China has a saying, inspired by the famed strategist Sun Tzu, that the best outcome of any standoff is “winning without fighting”.

Experts say while Malcolm Turnbull is right that China does not pose a direct military threat to Australia, it does excel at the practice of making steady gains that remain calculatedly short of military confrontation or conflict.

The latest instance, some say, is China’s handling of the paradisiacal Indian Ocean nation the Maldives, into which Beijing has poured money as part of its “Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative. A Chinese naval task group has been in the Indian Ocean while Beijing’s ally, the Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen, wrestles with a political crisis, prompting speculation the Chinese are propping up Mr Yameen by warding off India from intervening.

Such drama unfolding in the Indian Ocean on Australia's maritime doorstep provides a glimpse into how China might marry its ostensible economic and infrastructure programs with its strategic aims, experts say.

“If it is basically what it seems to be, which is the use of a naval task force to intervene in the Maldives … it’s using military force to influence the outcome of political decisions in another country while warning another major power to stay away,” said Peter Dean, a professor at the University of Western Australia and senior fellow at the Perth USAsia Centre.