23/06/2020 - International Relations

KEY POINTS

·         At a time when China’s pre-meditated military moves along our northern boundary are drawing the nation’s attention, it is important that we don’t lose sight of our surrounding seas.

·         To put this into perspective, one recent survey done by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (CSIS), shows that between April 2019 and March 2020, China deployed 25 maritime survey missions in the Indo-Pacific.

·         Nobody any longer accepts China’s claim that the Djibouti base is simply a logistics facility, concerns over a secret deal that gives China exclusive access to Cambodia’s Ream Naval Base.

·         It is a reasonable presumption that the completion of Gwadar and the use of Ream (Cambodia) if such a report is confirmed, will make it easier for China to sustain naval deployments  including submarines in the Indian Ocean.

·         The collection of vital hydrographical data is critical to their understanding of the sub-surface environment, particularly around the Andaman Islands, which is a choke-point from the Chinese perspective, as well as to monitor our own submarine movements.

·         It should, therefore, be presumed that in the coming 12-24 months, the Chinese could step up their efforts to secure significantly improved data in the seas between the Malacca Straits and Djibouti, especially in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea, through any one, or all, of the following.

·         The Chinese might try to send another survey vessel without our permission into our EEZ, even possibly under naval escort. Such action would contravene Indian law but the Chinese have never been deterred by finer points of the law.

·         China might sail PLAN intelligence-gathering ships along our coasts or in the waters off our island territories, just outside the 12 nautical mile limit, on grounds that this is “innocent passage” by naval vessels permissible under relevant provisions of the Convention; in other words the Chinese version of Freedom of Navigation operations.

·         We have the necessary capacity to monitor and interdict survey vessels well before they enter our EEZ. This will need coordination between our national security agencies, the navy, and the government departments responsible for the marine environment and disaster management, but also collaboration with like-minded countries who share our concerns.

·         We have multiple fishing communities that can be provided with the capacity and training for such purposes. Building Maritime Domain Awareness, and especially Underwater Domain Awareness (UDA) capabilities and technology, both domestically and with like-minded partners, should be given the highest priority.

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