This study aims to examine the influence of China rise on India's shaping of its strategy towards South and Southeast Asia. It argues that India's primary goal in its strategy toward South and Southeast Asia has become to prevent Chinese domination. The region of South and Southeast Asia, which it shares with China, is one of the most important priorities of its foreign policy in light of its ambition and aspiration to become a leading power in the region. Accordingly, India seeks to follow two different paths. On the one hand, it seeks to prevent Chinese domination by achieving internal and external balancing. On the other hand, it seeks to reassure China that it is not working to establish a balancing with it. The article argues that these reassurance strategies rarely succeed in achieving the desired goal because they are combined with a balancing strategy. Therefore, India has to reconsider its strategy by focusing on one of the two sides, taking into consideration the results of each