The Indian response to the Chinese threat in the Indian Ocean and beyond will have wider ramifications on how the nations of southeast Asia deal with the same problem because India is the only Asian power capable of standing up to a burgeoning and belligerent China Image Courtesy AP
New Delhi: Since emerging in their present political forms in the late 1940s, India and China – two ancient civilizations but relatively modern nation states – have spent the last several decades locked in a territorial dispute high in the icy heights of the mighty Himalayas.
The two nations have fought a war over the disputed border in 1962 and a couple of smaller, more localised conflicts in subsequent decades. But the issue stil remains unresolved.
Over the last couple of years, the Indian Army and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China have been locked in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation after the Chinese infringed upon Indian territory in Ladakh at multiple locations.
However, several events over the last few years indicate that the primary Chinese threat to Indian strategic interests emenates not from the Himalayas, but several thousands of kilometers away – among the deep blue waters of the Indian Ocean.
Incidents of Chinese ships intruding into India’s maritime boundary has become a common occurance in recent years.
In the latest incident, a Chinese spy ship – identified as the Yuan Wang-5 – has intruded into the Indian Ocean with Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Bay of Bengal even as India prepares to test its premier ballistic missile Agni-V from the Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha.
According to the Indian Navy, this Chinese vessel has been spotted in the Sunda Strait of Indonesia. This is the same ship that had landed at the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka last August.
This 20,000 ton vessel is equipped with a large antenna, advanced sensors and other electronic equipment. It is operated by a crew of more than 400 members.
Last month, India had to postpone another ballistic missile test when another Chinese spy ship, the Yuan Wang-6 was spotted near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on November 7. As a result, India had to postpone the test, originally scheduled for November 11, to November 22-24.
Now, even as India issued a NOTAM notice to declare the Bay of Bengal as a no-fly zone ahead of another test of the Agni-V ballistic missile which is scheduled to take place on December 15-16, it is the turn of the Yuan Wang-5 to make an appearance.
Since China became more assertive about its national security interests in the maritime domain, visits by Chinese spy ships into the Indian Ocean has been a regular occurrence.
In fact, Chinese submarines have regularly infringed into India’s maritime boundaries since 2013. In 2019, a Chinese vessel had conducted a survey of the waters between Indonesia and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 2019.
The Chinese national security doctrine makes it view the United States (US) as its major global challenge and India as its greatest regional rival.
The activities of the Chinese spy ships include intelligence gathering, information surveys, and space tracking. In recent years, Chinese acitivites in the Indian Ocean have increased and have become even more brazen.
In August this year, the Yuan Wang 5 was spotted at the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka. This had caused a spat between India and Sri Lanka. India had flagged the ship’s technical capability and expressed worries about the purpose of its visit. The Indian government was concerned about the possibility of the ship’s tracking systems attempting to snoop on the country’s security installations.
“The Chinese intrusions into the Indian Ocean region are not uncommon. They have been here for quite some time. I must assure you that we keep our areas of interest under surveillance throughout. We do that using a variety of means,” the Indian Navy’s Southern Naval Command (SNC) chief Vice Admiral M A Hampiholi was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
He said the Navy also keeps surveillance through satellites, maritime reconnaissance aircraft and also with the cooperation of the Coast Guard and their ships.
“I would say that these (Chinese) movements or their presence doesn’t go unnoticed,” he said.
China has used its advanced spy ships to impinge upon maritime boundaries in the South and East China Seas as well, causing tension and displeasure among its neighbours.
The Chinese incursions into the Indian Ocean is a big threat for India’s national security especially because at present the Indian Navy is no match for the PLA Navy (PLAN), which is the largest naval force in the world in terms of the sheer number of ships.
Adding to Indian concerns is the fact that the present parameters of international law are totally ill-equipped to deal with an issue in which Chinese ships are exploiting the loopholes in the prevailing global rules to survey international waters and further the interests of China at the expense of its neignbours, including India.
The Indian leadership will have to display greater resolve and astuteness in order to counter the Chinese threat in the Indian Ocean. A good place to star will be a rapid and extensive uplift of the Indian Navy in order to transform it into a force capable of effectively taking on the PLA Navy (PLAN) in a naval conflict.
The Indian response to the Chinese threat in the Indian Ocean and beyond will have wider ramifications on how the nations of southeast Asia deal with the same problem because India is the only Asian power capable of standing up to a burgeoning and belligerent China. India thus has no option but to step up to the challenge and take the Chinese naval threat by the horns.
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