Opinion | Is Beijing seeking a ‘grand bargain’ with New Delhi in the Indian Ocean?
- In countering India’s efforts to dominate South Asian waters, China may be seeking a grand bargain: allow each side control over their respective littorals – the Bay of Bengal and South China Sea – and the maintenance of respective constabulary presences
As the presence of Chinese research ships and fishing fleets grows in the Indian Ocean, India’s Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Karambir Singh, has warned against “any maritime activity that deviates from the norm or rule-based order, that can cause regional instability”.
Speaking at the Raisina dialogue in New Delhi last month, he added that “if there is anything that impinges on our national interest or sovereignty, we will have to act”.
It is not unusual for foreign research vessels to operate in India’s near seas. American survey ships have occasionally conducted information-gathering operations in Indian-administered waters, leading New Delhi to protest.
Rarely, however, have Indian denouncements of foreign maritime activity been as vocal as in the case of Shiyan-1. Chinese officials insisted the vessel “was conducting acoustic propagation experiments and hydrologic environment measurements on the high seas of the Indian Ocean … and only sailed through the Indian EEZ on the way to and from the experimental area”.