Introduction
By now everybody would have heard about China’s ambitious Belt and Road initiative, which has taken the world by storm. Ever since China has started manufacturing for the entire world, it has seen rapid economic growth which has made it into a modern-day global superpower. The People's Republic of China is seeing to expand its power and hence started the Belt and Road initiative or known as "One Belt One Road" project. Several countries have signed it and become a part of this project. The Belt and Road initiative has a very important component to it – what is referred to as "Maritime Silk Route". This route was used by China in the past for their silk trade and china today wants to develop a similar route for their trade benefit. However, China has one obstacle in its path, the Indian Ocean. The String of Pearls is the name of the theory given to China's plans in the Indian Ocean.
China’s problem
The Indian Ocean is a strategic position, especially for China. China has access to the oceans from two openings- The East China Sea and the heavily militarized South China Sea. China has constantly had a problem in these regions with their immediate neighbours and the tensions are high among them. Despite this, another disadvantage is that these Seas are far away from many important ports and locations which are very important for China's trade and commerce like Europe and Africa. Africa is very important to China as it is the highest investor in Africa and is heavily dependent on the African nations to supply it with their increasing need for raw materials for production. The Gulf countries are also very important to China as they fulfill the huge oil requirements of the large number of industries located in China. Since China's ports are located very far from these crucial areas, it poses as a barrier to China's commerce as shipment of these materials take a very long time which affects their production to an extent. On top of that, these trade routes have caused sea traffic jams at ports like Singapore which is a crucial trade point. The ongoing crisis in the South China Sea has made it difficult for trade ships to easily navigate.
Why the Indian ocean is so relevant and how China can make use of it for trade
The Indian Ocean and its surrounding water bodies have a strategic position due to its extreme closeness to the Persian Gulf and East Africa. A port in this region could be extremely beneficial to China as its trade would be much quicker and easier which would help its gigantic number industries flourish. So China has been keeping an eye in this region for a long time. The biggest problem in the Indian Ocean is their neighbour India which has a huge influence over the region. India is like the driving force in South Asia and is a key strategic player in the Indian subcontinent. China and India haven’t gotten along very well in the past few decades and have had a somewhat constant disliking towards each other. They have had border skirmishes and one war in the past and ongoing territorial disputes. At such a stage India which has the largest coast along the Indian Ocean and its neighbouring waters would never help China in fulfilling their port and trade requirements. China analyzing this fact had turned to other nations in South Asia to fulfill their demands. Since almost every nation in the Indian Subcontinent has good relations with India, China turned to Pakistan. Pakistan which not only has a sizable coastline in the Arabian Sea and close to the Indian Ocean but they also do not get along with their neighbour India. China had made use of this point and proposed the idea of building a port in Pakistan which would be operated by China to satisfy its needs. The result of this idea is what is today called the Gwadar port in Balochistan which is financed by China under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor and is under construction. A road is also under construction from Gwadar port to China. This would help China’s trade and commerce as the duration of trade would decrease drastically and would give it a certain hold in the region.
Other benefits gained
In 2008, a port in Sri Lanka called Hambantota Port and was constructed by the Chinese companies China Harbour Engineering Company and Sinohydro Corporation. As far as 85% of the Funding was done by the Chinese Government for the construction of this port and the remaining was by the Sri Lankan port authority. Later on, when Sri Lanka couldn't waive off the debts it owed to China, an agreement was signed between them where the port was given on a 99-year-old lease to China. This port has strategic importance as an estimated 36,000 ships, including 4,500 oil tankers, use the route annually and the control of this port has benefited China in controlling trade in the Indian Ocean. China didn’t stop here. China wants its presence to be felt in the Indian Ocean as a superpower. Coco islands are a series of small islands belonging to the larger stretch of Andaman and Nicobar islands but administered by Myanmar. In 1992 an intelligence-gathering station was set up at Great Coco island by China to administrate the Indian naval activity in the area after being permitted by the Militaristic Rule in Myanmar. This station has helped China monitor all naval activities of various countries in the eastern Indian Ocean as it is a major route between the Bay of Bengal and the Strait of Malacca. It may also be used to monitor activities at the launch site of the Indian Space Research Organisation. The Coco Islands were allegedly leased to China from 1994. The governments of Burma and China deny this, and many members of the Burmese military categorically deny any agreement at all. Apart from this China also has a Military Base in Djibouti which has strengthened its presence in East Africa. There have also been speculations that China might build a port at Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh.
Conclusion
This is what may be the beginning of China's plans in the Indian Ocean. They already have a great economic and militaristic presence in the region. All of this is a huge blow to India as all its neighbouring countries are slowly being swallowed by the economic giant. Furthermore, all these actions are just resulting in India losing its control in the Indian Ocean territory. To sum it all the Belt and Road initiative is just a major pawn in the bigger game, which has helped china expand its presence. Can the Indian Ocean now become the Chinese Ocean?
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