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The Indian Ocean Region
The Indian Ocean – Current Security Environment
Atul Dev, a New Delhi based senior freelance journalist
in the Mauritius Times,
25 May 2007
"Let this be clear: the two major powers of
the region, China and India, are scrambling for advantage around the Indian
Ocean's rim. China is building military and naval links with Bangladesh and
Myanmar. The cooperation between China and African countries is now getting
more and more visible, particularly after the
China-Africa summit in Beijing in November 2006... Reports available indicate that both India and the
United States are studying intensely this rise in Chinese activity.
At the last
meeting of the Indo-US Defence Joint Working Group held in New Delhi (on
10 April 2007), China's 'growing naval expansion in the Indian Ocean' was
noted with concern. The meeting also noted: 'China is rapidly increasing
military and maritime links with countries such as
Myanmar,
Bangladesh,
Sri Lanka,
Maldives, Seychelles,
Mauritius and Madagascar....Based on this power play now going on in the Indian Ocean, it is expected that
countries of the region would sit up and take note of two growing external naval
powers – US and China -- increasing their presence in the region. A collective
security arrangement is in order. But knowing the rivalries within the region,
will this ever be possible? The 200 years of the Anglo-Saxon presence in the
region has now been replaced by the US-China presence to further and protect
their interests. Isn’t it time for the ‘owners’ of the Indian
Ocean to get together to protect their own interests? "
 With
approximately 74 million square kilometres and roughly 20 per cent of the global
ocean, the Indian Ocean is the third largest ocean in the world.
Two major characteristics distinguish the Indian Ocean from the
Atlantic and the Pacific. First, only one fifth of the total trade is conducted
amongst the countries of the Indian Ocean themselves, whereas 80 per cent of the
trade is extra-regional, for example, export of crude oil to Europe, the USA and
Japan or tea or sugar exports to USA/Europe. In the Atlantic and the Pacific,
the proportion is exactly the opposite.
Second, contrary to the Atlantic and the Pacific as "open"
oceans, the Indian Ocean can only be accessed through several entry points, from
the West via Cape of Good Hope, from the North via the Straits of Hormuz and the
Persian Gulf, from the East via
the Straits of Malacca, the
Sunda and
Lombok
Straits and the
Ombai-Wetar Straits, all around Indonesia.
Recent history of the Indian Ocean is a history of regular regional conflicts,
in West Asia, in South Asia, in South East Asia and in countries of Southern
Africa. Because of these regional conflicts, sometimes purely local, there is
always a strong possibility of an interruption of the sea lines of
communication. These conflicts thus invariably have an international dimension
as well. Take the Indo-Pak wars or the current conflict in Iraq or the earlier
US Operation Desert Storm (1991), which have all had international ramifications
in one way or another.
Over the past three decades or so, particularly since the end of the Cold War
and the break-up of the Soviet Union, there has been strong growth in
regionalism in international relations. From the erstwhile bipolar world we now
have numerous power centers developing. The world cannot and will not remain
unipolar, as some suggest. Regional power centres will emerge. It is not
surprising that the Indian Ocean region is now joining this trend. There are a
number of factors that have further fuelled and encouraged this development.
First, the end of apartheid in South Africa and the dynamic emergence of that
country onto the world stage, virtually providing a new leadership to countries
in that region. Second, the economic liberalisation in the region, especially in
India, where extensive reforms and an outward looking orientation have set the
scene for continued growth at over eight to nine per cent per annum. This and
the rapid progress made by the economies of the Asia Pacific region have
provided the basis for economic, political and security cooperation amongst
countries in the Indian Ocean region.
Let this be clear: the two major powers of the region, China and India, are
scrambling for advantage around the Indian Ocean's rim. China is building
military and naval links with Bangladesh and Myanmar. The cooperation between
China and African countries is now getting
more and more visible, particularly
after the
China-Africa summit in Beijing in November 2006.
The rise of Indian
and Chinese influence in the region continues and it is no idle guess that the
Indian Ocean will soon match the Pacific in geo-strategic importance.
Reports available indicate that both India and the United States are studying
intensely this rise in Chinese activity. At the last meeting of the Indo-US
Defence Joint Working Group held in New Delhi, China's 'growing naval expansion
in the Indian Ocean' was noted with concern, about. The meeting also noted:
'China is rapidly increasing military and maritime links with countries such as
Myanmar,
Bangladesh,
Sri Lanka,
Maldives, Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar.'
In the meantime, two recent developments have alerted the world to China's
growing military-naval competence. On 10 January this year, China became the
third country, after the United States and Russia,
to have successfully carried
out an anti-satellite operation. Known as the 'kinetic kill vehicle', it was
launched from a missile that destroyed an ageing low earth orbiting weather
satellite. This test clearly showed China's intention and capabilities to
develop a weapon that at some time could strike at US dependence on
satellite-based reconnaissance, navigation and targeting systems.
The second event has been much quieter but has more ominous implications,
Beijing's steady expansion of its
'string of pearls' strategy. A new phrase
coined by geo-strategists' for Chinese efforts to increase access to global
ports and airfields and to develop special diplomatic relationships from the
South China Sea to the Arabian Gulf. The most recent and perhaps the most
significant 'pearl' emerged earlier this year as China helped Pakistan complete
Phase II of the expansion plans for their
mammoth deep sea port at Gwadar.
There is continued suspicion on the part of the governments on each other’s
intentions and the smaller nations being suspicious of the intentions of each
other! There are those who are genuinely sceptical about the prospects for
Indian Ocean cooperation in general and security cooperation in particular. But
notwithstanding a positive climate, peace and security in the Indian Ocean
region has not been easy.
Therefore, it is no surprise that up to now no collective security regime has
been created in the Indian Ocean that could have been able to ameliorate such
conflicts or thoughts, even at the maritime level. Even the
Indian Ocean Rim
Association for Regional Cooperation, established in 1997 in Mauritius, does not
include a military security dimension. It is my contention that a maritime
collective security regime for the Indian Ocean, based on mutual trust and
cooperation, is necessary and is possible.
While collective security may not have yet taken root, bilateral security
measures have. Some recent examples of such cooperation between India and
countries of the region include moves towards defence-oriented agreements with
Seychelles, Mauritius and
Mozambique.
In February 2005, India pre-empted the Chinese Navy's possible involvement in
the affairs of the Seychelles by
presenting the strategically placed republic's
coast guard with the Indian navy's newest fast attack vessel. The move came when
it appeared that China was about to make a similar gift to that country!
This was followed by India's first ever defence cooperation agreement with a
major African nation. In 2006,
India signed a joint defence agreement with
Mozambique which included mounting of periodic maritime patrols off the
Mozambique coast and to supply armaments to all the three defence services and
reorganizing their military infrastructure. India is also building a
high-tech
monitoring station in north Madagascar.
Mauritius and India have been discussing India's possible
lease of the Agalgela Islands for 'infrastructure and tourism
development'. Military analysts have quickly noted the significance. These tiny
70 sq km islands are 3,100 km south-west of the Kochi naval base in India and
about 1,800 km off Diego Garcia.
While China is trying every means possible to increase its presence in the
Indian Ocean, the Americans are already sitting pretty with their strong
presence in the region through their major base in the very heart of the Indian
Ocean – Diego Garcia. A word about how the US laid their hands on this base will
not be out of order at this point.
The Portuguese discovered Diego Garcia in the 1500s and named it after one of
their navigators. Between 1814 and 1965, Diego Garcia was Mauritius territory.
The British transferred it to the Chagos Archipelago, which belonged to the
newly created British Indian Ocean Territory, in 1965, just prior to granting
independence to Mauritius. In 1970, the island was leased to the United States
by the British authorities that developed it as a joint US-UK air and naval
refuelling and support station during the Cold War. Located in the middle of the
Indian Ocean, it was ideally located for keeping an ‘eye’ on the Soviet Union.
Diego Garcia proved to be critically important to the US as a refuelling base
during the 1991 Gulf War. During Operation Desert Fox, it served as a base for
B-52 bombers, which in December 1998 launched nearly 100 long-range cruise
missiles aimed at Iraq. Beginning October 2001, the US again used Diego Garcia
when it launched B-2 and B-52 bomber attacks against Afghanistan. In the current
British and American led-war against Iraq, Diego Garcia has once again played a
crucial strategic role. It is estimated that in 2006 about 40 British and 1,000
US military personnel and 2,400 support workers of various Asian nationalities
reside there.
Based on this power play now going on in the Indian Ocean, it is expected that
countries of the region would sit up and take note of two growing external naval
powers – US and China -- increasing their presence in the region. A collective
security arrangement is in order. But knowing the rivalries within the region,
will this ever be possible? The 200 years of the Anglo-Saxon presence in the
region has now been replaced by the US-China presence to further and protect
their interests.
Isn’t it time for the ‘owners’ of the Indian Ocean to get together to protect
their own interests? |
