India: Mooring in foreign shores?

In the second week of this month Prime Minister Narendra Modi plans to visit Sri Lanka Maldives Mauritius and Seychelles This is another version of his South Asian neighbourhood diplomacy only the neighbours here are long neglected oceanic ones Modi will be the first Indian PM to visit Sri Lanka in 28 years and first to visit Seychelles since Indira Gandhi the last prime ministerial visit to Mauritius was in 2005 and to Maldives in 2011The longterm goal of the Indian Navy is to exercise sea control and have the ability of power projects ashore in its region of primary interest But Indiarsquos present challenge is to step up its game to maintain its presence in the region in the face of stiff Chinese competition file pic for representationConcern mounted in India in 2007 when Chinese President Hu Jintao rounded off his eightnation trip to Africa with a stop at Seychelles Last year they reached a crescendo with the berthing of Chinese submarines in Colombo and the visits of President Xi Jinping to Sri Lanka and Maldives as part of his South Asian tour that brought him to IndiaChina is using economic military and diplomatic tools to gain influence over coastal states and small islands in the IOR and is using its investments and aid to consolidate its strategic positions In addition there is the reality of Chinarsquos steadily growing influence in the littoral through military and economic ties with our immediate neighbours Myanmar Bangladesh Sri Lanka and PakistanJust how intense the competition is became evident last month when Malersquos main water desalination plant collapsed Just a day after India sent five aircraft and two ships on an emergency mission to aid Maldives to overcome its water crisis China pointedly sent a military vessel carrying 960 ton of fresh water and donated 500000 for the repairs of the plant Maldives is a particular area of concern to India since it was the object of back to back visits by Chinese President Xi Jinping in September and Defence Minister Chang Wanquan in November 2014 There have been persistent reports about Chinarsquos desire to construct a naval facility in the archipelagoChinese trade in the IOR has steadily grown in recent years Beijing has important ties with resourcerich nations of East Africa and the Persian Gulf It has a major role in the Gwadar port in Pakistan at the mouth of the strategic Persian Gulf Last November China gave a call for the creation of a maritime silk route to enhance connectivity and trade among the Asian nations and it has now operationalised a 40 billion fund to assist in the building of port and infrastructure in relation to itIndia can hardly object to the growth of Chinese trade and commerce in the IOR and its efforts to enhance connectivity Indeed it is not difficult to see why regional countries welcome Chinese interest and investment But this has been accompanied by a significant stepping up of military activity as well Last year the PLA Navy carried out a special exercise on breaching the Lombok Strait that leads into the IOR from the Java Sea It also sent a nuclear propelled submarine on a patrol across the Indian Ocean ostensibly on an antipiracy mission Indeed Chinarsquos robust participation in the antipiracy task force off Somalia have given it a great opportunity to maintain a presence in IOR and familiarise itself with the region But what has gotten New Delhirsquos goat were the visits made by two Chinese conventional submarines to Colombo harbour One of them was clearly timed to coincide with the visit on September 7 2014 of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe an important Indian ally to Sri LankaGeography and culture favour India in the IOR The Indian peninsula juts out into the ocean and gives us unparalleled location astride important sea lanes The Indian diaspora is scattered across the region from South Africa to Myanmar and the Persian Gulf The Andaman amp Nicobar Islands sit at the head of the Malacca Straits through which 30 per cent of the world trade passes which includes 50 per cent of oil being shipped For this reason China has been exploring the alternate routes via Lombok and Sunda Straits as well as developing overland pipelines to connect via Kyaukphyu Sittwe in Myanmar and Gwadar in Pakistan There is an even grandiose talk of cutting a canal across the Isthmus of KraThe Indian Navyrsquos Maritime Doctrine describes its ldquoprimary areas of interestrdquo to include our territorial waters and the exclusive economic zone out to 200 nautical miles the Arabian Sea Bay of Bengal and their ldquolittoral reachesrdquo the choke points at Malacca Sunda Lombok Hormuz Bab el Mandeb and the Cape of Good Hope The southern IOR Red Sea and its littoral South China Sea and the West Pacific are areas of secondary interestThe longterm goal of the IN is to exercise sea control and have the ability of power projects ashore in its region of primary interest But Indiarsquos present challenge is to step up its game to maintain its presence in the region in the face of stiff Chinese competition It has developed relations through naval diplomacy which includes the transfer of patrol craft and reconnaissance aircraft and helicopters Now it needs to consolidate these through enhanced trade and investment aimed at integrating the region into Indias economic sphereNew Delhi cannot match Beijing in terms of resources but what it does have is location a great deal of goodwill and also friendly allies especially the IORrsquos hegemonthe US Even so India needs to up the ante by finding money to put into strategic investments and projects across the IORwhether it is Myanmar Iran Sri Lanka or Mauritius The way to do it is not governmental schemes which are all running late but to draw strength from Indiarsquos entrepreneurial class and the private sectorThe writer is a Distinguished Fellow Observer Research Foundation New Delhi