The rising presence of extra-regional gamers in the India Ocean Region (IOR), particularly China gaining a foothold in the area, is one of many strategic challenges for India, reads the report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs.
The report, launched earlier this week, additional reads that China has been endeavor a number of infrastructure initiatives specializing in ports, airports and the logistics sector for dual-use functions, in addition to deploying analysis and survey vessels in the area to reinforce maritime area consciousness, and gather delicate oceanography and marine knowledge.
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The report says that China has expanded its naval energy in the area by growing the variety of vessels and period of deployment. This has been facilitated by establishing a army base in Djibouti in 2017 and the creation of dual-use infrastructure astride important maritime choke factors in the IOR to serve logistics assist capabilities.
The report additional reads that as a part of this technique, China is additionally growing ports and different infrastructure amenities in the littoral nations of the IOR, together with in the neighborhood of India’s maritime boundary, and has a acknowledged aim of turning into a maritime energy. India has been working intently with companion nations in the area and sensitising them on China’s actions and the long-term implications for their inner and regional safety.
In December 2024, Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake reiterated his nation’s acknowledged place of not allowing its territory for use in any method inimical to the safety of India, in addition to in the direction of regional stability. While the Indian authorities is conscious of China’s engagements with different nations, together with Sri Lanka, India’s relations with these nations stand on their very own footing and are impartial of the relations of those nations with third nations, the report reads.
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Replying to the federal government’s notion in the direction of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its debt-trapped diplomacy, the report talked about that the Government of India has had a principled place on the initiative. Their considerations come up inter alia from the inclusion of the so-called unlawful China-Pakistan Economic Corridor as a flagship challenge of BRI, which impinges on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India. The so-called unlawful “China-Pakistan Economic Corridor” passes by way of components of the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, that are beneath the unlawful occupation of Pakistan. The authorities has conveyed its considerations to the Chinese aspect on a number of events and has requested them to stop such actions.
“We have been clear that militarisation of the Indian Ocean Region is not desirable and it will adversely impact security of the Indian Ocean and the wider Indo-Pacific,” the report talked about concerning potential army use of ports and infrastructures by China developed in IOR.
