What’s The Chinese Navy Up To In The Indian Ocean?

November 12, 2009

Martin McCauley writes: The Chinese leadership has been telling the world for decades now that there is no such thing as a ‘Chinese threat’ hanging over Asia and beyond it. We come in peace, was the message coming from Beijing.

However, as China’s power grows, both on land and sea, its neighbours are getting slightly jittery. India, for example, is becoming more and more concerned about China’s ambitions to tighten its control over the Indian Ocean. New Delhi has identified a ‘string of pearls’, which stretches from Myanmar [Burma] to Aden, that China is keeping in its sights. China is alreday building deep water ports in Bangladesh (Chittagong), Sri Lanka (Hambantota), Pakistan (Gwadar) and road and energy pipelines and electronic surveillance installations in Myanmar. It is all done for the benefit of the countries involved, Beijing says. No hostile intentions intended. And yet the Asian countries are not quite sure that this is the case.

The first time the Chinese navy appeared in the Indian Ocean was in 1985 when its ships had visited ports in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Pakistan has emerged as China’s strategic partner in, among other things, military matériel and nuclear cooperation. There have also been joint Pakistani-Chinese naval exercises. The first was off the coast of Shanghai in 2003. The second was held in the Arabian Sea in 2005 and in 2007 Pakistan hosted a multinational naval exercise in which China also took part. This afforded the Chinese Navy the opportunity to gain experience in complex manoeuvres with foreign navies. China also took part in international naval exercises in the Arabian Sea in 2009.

China has acquired much naval hardware from Russia and in 1999 there was a joint exercise which involved the Russian Pacific Fleet and the Chinese Eastern Fleet. In 2001, joint exercises involved Russian strategic bombers. In 2005, another joint exercise was conducted off the Russian coast- Shandong Peninsula, in north eastern China. In 2009, the two navies engaged in joint exercises during their anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden.

Beijing is very sensitive about foreign navies deploying near the Strait of Malacca to protect merchant ships. China has offered littoral states aid in improving navigational aids and enhancing safety and security.

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami revealed weaknesses which the Chinese Navy have been trying to overcome. China did not have ships available to help in the international rescue and humanitarian mission. The United States, India and Australia played the key role and thereby excluded China.

Interacting with foreign navies is vitally important for the Chinese navy. It permits it to gauge the effectiveness of advanced systems, new technology and thinking about modern warfare. This also provides a boost for the military industrial base in China as it is obliged to develop more and more advanced technology.

China has unofficially proposed to the United States that it patrol the area east of Hawaii and China patrol the region west of Hawaii. This area, of course, includes the Indian Ocean. Such suggestions do nothing to allay the fears in New Delhi about Chinese intentions in ‘their’ waters.

India has not acceded to Chinese requests to join the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) and the trilateral grouping of India, South Africa and Brazil. There are at present 33 Indian Ocean littoral states involved in IONS. They discuss maritime security, disaster relief and humanitarian aid. Beijing has been kept at arm’s length by using the argument that China does not border on the Indian Ocean.

The Middle Kingdom may break into the other grouping of India, South Africa and Brazil. In June it signed a deal with Brasilia to train Chinese naval pilots on the aircraft carrier São Paulo. New Delhi fears that this could lead to a reciprocal deal to train Brazilian officers in nuclear submarines in joint Brazilian-Chinese operations in the Indian Ocean. An added advantage for China is that they possess native speakers of Portuguese in Macau, the former Portuguese colony near Hong Kong.

China is gradually acquiring an Indian Ocean capability and will, doubtless, be seeking a base in east Africa. That would complete the ‘string of pearls’ which India perceives as a threat to its maritime security. How will New Delhi respond to this threat?

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