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By HARSH V. PANT
The whole world is watching China's confrontations in the South China Sea and the East China Seabut India is watching with particular concern. India has no territorial claims here per se, but one Indian official recently said that the South China Sea could be seen "as the antechamber of the Indian Ocean," given the flow of maritime traffic. New Delhi is nervous about Beijing's threat to the freedom of navigation, and this is one reason it is strengthening ties with island nations in the Indian Ocean.
This month, Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony travelled to the Maldives to shore up relations with the young democracy. He was ostensibly there to inaugurate a military hospital built with Indian assistance, but New Delhi used the occasion to make a slew of defense-related announcements.
Chiefly, Delhi will begin training Maldives' air force and position a naval team in the islands to train Maldivian naval personnel. Mr. Antony also said India would station a defense attaché in its Maldivian embassy, extend the deployment of a helicopter squadron in the islands for two more years, and help the Maldives government in its surveillance of its Exclusive Economic Zone, which extends for 200 nautical miles (370 km) from its shores.
All these take defense cooperation up to the next level. More importantly, they underscore India's continuing commitment to Maldives, despite a somewhat contentious transfer of power earlier this year when its first democratically elected president Mohamed Nasheed resigned under pressure when protests broke out against him. Some saw this as a coup, but India isn't taking sides. Some of this is sheer agnosticism on Delhi's partit doesn't want to interfere in another nation's internal affairsbut a lot of it is realpolitik too.
India has always been friendly toward the government in Male, but it now wants to strengthen its relations because China too has displayed its interest in the islands as part of what appears to be a concerted effort to build closer relations with countries surrounding India. Earlier this month, Beijing announced a $500 million package of economic assistance for Male. Delhi views the Maldives as central to the strategic landscape in the Indian Oceanthe island chain straddles vital sea lines between East Asia and the Middle Eastso it's not going to sit idly by.
If China were only expanding its footprint in the Maldives, that would be worrying enough. But what really raises the stakes for India is China's growing closeness with various other island nations on India's periphery. Beijing has forged strong ties with Sri Lanka, Seychelles and Mauritius in the past few years, countries where India has historically been the main defense provider.
Beijing has courted Colombo since the last years of its civil war against the Tamil Tigers in 2009 with offers of infrastructure and other projects, such as a deep-sea port called Hambatota on the island's south side. China's defense minister visited Sri Lanka earlier this month to offer $100 million for welfare projects in the north and east of the country, zones that were hard-hit by the quarter-century civil war.
Then there's the Seychelles, which Chinese President Hu Jintao reached out to as early as 2007 during a visit there. Much to Delhi's surprise, Beijing is now training the small island nation's defense forces and providing military hardware such as turboprop aircraft for surveillance. India was also taken aback last year when Seychelles offered the PLA Navy its territory for a base. Though Beijing never took it up, India got spooked. That's why earlier this year Delhi extended a $50 million line of credit and $25 million grant to Seychelles.
India's strategic planners rightly see all this as an extension of Beijing's "string of pearls" strategyattain geopolitical influence by increasing access to ports westward from the South China Sea, across the Indian Ocean. This strategy directly reduces India's influence in the Indian Ocean and also over time increases the threat of strategic encirclement, neither of which bodes well for Indian national interests. On top of this, Beijing's behavior in the South and East China Seas now shows the Communist Party is willing to be aggressive.
India is hence taking steps to protect itself from Chinese encroachment, part of which involves the military. Like China, India too is launching a new aircraft carrier and there's the danger the two navies will increasingly rub against each other. It's an open question whether the two nations can manage these tensions and avoid spilling over into armed conflict.
The real alternative for India is to increase its diplomacy with the U.S. Despite all the hyperbole in New Delhi about "non-alignment," policy makers there recognize that cooperation with Washington can best thwart a rising China. This is something that Delhi and Washington will have to seriously think about as the balance of power alters in the Indian Ocean.
Mr. Pant is a professor of defense studies at King's College, London.
Harsh V. Pant: India Defends Its Backyard in the Indian Ocean - WSJ.com
The whole world is watching China's confrontations in the South China Sea and the East China Seabut India is watching with particular concern. India has no territorial claims here per se, but one Indian official recently said that the South China Sea could be seen "as the antechamber of the Indian Ocean," given the flow of maritime traffic. New Delhi is nervous about Beijing's threat to the freedom of navigation, and this is one reason it is strengthening ties with island nations in the Indian Ocean.
This month, Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony travelled to the Maldives to shore up relations with the young democracy. He was ostensibly there to inaugurate a military hospital built with Indian assistance, but New Delhi used the occasion to make a slew of defense-related announcements.
Chiefly, Delhi will begin training Maldives' air force and position a naval team in the islands to train Maldivian naval personnel. Mr. Antony also said India would station a defense attaché in its Maldivian embassy, extend the deployment of a helicopter squadron in the islands for two more years, and help the Maldives government in its surveillance of its Exclusive Economic Zone, which extends for 200 nautical miles (370 km) from its shores.
All these take defense cooperation up to the next level. More importantly, they underscore India's continuing commitment to Maldives, despite a somewhat contentious transfer of power earlier this year when its first democratically elected president Mohamed Nasheed resigned under pressure when protests broke out against him. Some saw this as a coup, but India isn't taking sides. Some of this is sheer agnosticism on Delhi's partit doesn't want to interfere in another nation's internal affairsbut a lot of it is realpolitik too.
India has always been friendly toward the government in Male, but it now wants to strengthen its relations because China too has displayed its interest in the islands as part of what appears to be a concerted effort to build closer relations with countries surrounding India. Earlier this month, Beijing announced a $500 million package of economic assistance for Male. Delhi views the Maldives as central to the strategic landscape in the Indian Oceanthe island chain straddles vital sea lines between East Asia and the Middle Eastso it's not going to sit idly by.
If China were only expanding its footprint in the Maldives, that would be worrying enough. But what really raises the stakes for India is China's growing closeness with various other island nations on India's periphery. Beijing has forged strong ties with Sri Lanka, Seychelles and Mauritius in the past few years, countries where India has historically been the main defense provider.
Beijing has courted Colombo since the last years of its civil war against the Tamil Tigers in 2009 with offers of infrastructure and other projects, such as a deep-sea port called Hambatota on the island's south side. China's defense minister visited Sri Lanka earlier this month to offer $100 million for welfare projects in the north and east of the country, zones that were hard-hit by the quarter-century civil war.
Then there's the Seychelles, which Chinese President Hu Jintao reached out to as early as 2007 during a visit there. Much to Delhi's surprise, Beijing is now training the small island nation's defense forces and providing military hardware such as turboprop aircraft for surveillance. India was also taken aback last year when Seychelles offered the PLA Navy its territory for a base. Though Beijing never took it up, India got spooked. That's why earlier this year Delhi extended a $50 million line of credit and $25 million grant to Seychelles.
India's strategic planners rightly see all this as an extension of Beijing's "string of pearls" strategyattain geopolitical influence by increasing access to ports westward from the South China Sea, across the Indian Ocean. This strategy directly reduces India's influence in the Indian Ocean and also over time increases the threat of strategic encirclement, neither of which bodes well for Indian national interests. On top of this, Beijing's behavior in the South and East China Seas now shows the Communist Party is willing to be aggressive.
India is hence taking steps to protect itself from Chinese encroachment, part of which involves the military. Like China, India too is launching a new aircraft carrier and there's the danger the two navies will increasingly rub against each other. It's an open question whether the two nations can manage these tensions and avoid spilling over into armed conflict.
The real alternative for India is to increase its diplomacy with the U.S. Despite all the hyperbole in New Delhi about "non-alignment," policy makers there recognize that cooperation with Washington can best thwart a rising China. This is something that Delhi and Washington will have to seriously think about as the balance of power alters in the Indian Ocean.
Mr. Pant is a professor of defense studies at King's College, London.
Harsh V. Pant: India Defends Its Backyard in the Indian Ocean - WSJ.com
C'mon we are about as peaceful as Timur. india is our natural prey.
