China Says ‘Indian Ocean Is Not India’s Ocean’
Views expressed here are of the author’s - Gp Cpt TP Srivastava
A look at the globe or the World map shows the Indian subcontinent as a small entity embedded by colossal water bodies in the East, West, and South and pressed by a vast land mass in the North. Our obsession with the Northwest is so overpowering even today that whenever an Indian talks about an external threat to Indian security, one invariably starts with Pakistan.
The Indian Ocean is the third largest among the oceans behind the Pacific and Atlantic and is the only ocean named after a country. Southward jutting of the Indian peninsula gives the Indian Ocean a characteristic “M” shape.
The geography is far from favourable to India as a nation. Andaman and Nicobar Islands stretch for nearly 680 kilometres from North to South and are almost 1,300 kilometres away from the Indian mainland. The island territories are closer to Indonesia and Thailand. Little Coco Island, now an alien territory, is only 45 kilometres from Landfall Island. Over 70% of the world’s oil trade passes through the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). This figure will likely go up in the foreseeable future if it has not risen.
China currently has two main preoccupations. First, to develop its economy, which is already on a trot. The Chinese leadership wants it to gall up. Second, its interests in Taiwan. China shall not rest until it has annexed Taiwan, US intervention notwithstanding. China is merely waiting for that time. Once Taiwan is behind them, the entire Chinese attention shall shift to IOR.
We still have the time and scenario suited to the Indian requirement of militarizing the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. We have everything for such action, provided we can remove the mindset in our decision-makers, be it political, bureaucratic, or military.
