By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
The US and India are finalizing new agreements to massively expand Naval cooperation along India’s Eastern coastline along the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal by adding joint ports and enabling the US Navy to operate in the Indian ocean to a much greater extent. Naturally adding ports for US Navy ships and joint-functioning shipyards will increase US-Indian interoperability and allies coordination in the realm of seeking to contain Chinese expansionism.
The increased US-Indian Naval collaboration offers mounting evidence that both India and the US see the presence of “countervailing power” as an extremely significant method of anticipating future threats and countering China’s growing influence and territorial claims. Sure enough an interesting essay in Asia Nikkea quotes a US official being clear that the US is quite concerned about China’s interest in expanding beyond the South China Sea.
“The U.S. Navy will seek more hubs for ship repair and refueling in India. The navy has signed two agreements with Indian shipyards. Securing access to more logistics sites in the Indo-Pacific region would reduce downtime for American ships,” Asia Nikkea states. “That partnership with India on navy-to-navy cooperation means we cooperate more in the Indian Ocean alongside them [and] is going to be increasingly strategic for us.”
Chinese Expansionism Reaches West
The People’s Republic of China is well known for its territorial ambitions in the South China Sea where multiple countries claim sovereignty over disputed parts of the Spratly island based on a multi-generational territorial assertion called the “nine-dash-line.”
The “Nine-Dash-Line” encompasses the entirety of the South China Sea and dates back to the Dynastic era of Chinese history, however the United States and many SouthEast Asian countries consider this an illegitimate and even illegal claim. As a result, large ,parts of the Spratly islands are claimed by a range of different countries to include Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam and others. Ongoing disputes in the South China Sea continue to function as flashpoints for escalating tensions between China and the US and its SouthEast Asian allies.
While the concerns about potential escalation and conflict in the South China Sea persist and have not diminished much in the last 10 years, the Pentagon and its regional allies are now quite concerned that China’s expansionist ambitions will further extend to the Western side of the SouthEast Asian Peninsula into the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. The intent here would be to not only exert influence along coastal areas of Western SouthEast Asia but also better position itself to surveil or provoke India. Tensions between India and China have been escalating in recent years given border disputes along their shared boundary called Line of Actual Control, and longstanding Indian opposition to China’s persecution of Buddhist Monks and its supporting population in Tibet. Several public reports have documented Chinese efforts to persecute Tibetans but also pull children from their home communities, separate them from their parents and families and place them in PRC state sponsored schools. Persecution of Buddhists has long been documented in Tibet and does not appear to be decreasing, something which China’s decision to establish a military headquarters in Tibet and build new weapons for Western China’s plateau and mountainous areas.
It makes sense that China would seek to expand its Naval influence near India given the fast-growing size and technological sophistication of the PLA Navy. A greater ability to operate destroyers, carriers, submarines and other Naval assets closer to India presents a vastly increased threat and makes sense given the PRC’s well-documented expansionist global ambitions. There is additional evidence in support of China’s ambitions in Western Asia through the PRCs Belt Road Initiative and Digital Silk Roac initiative designed to strengthen transportation, commerce, technological advancement, railways and corridors in support of access and strategic influence more fully into Western SouthEast Asia and India. Also, while China does not have a carrier-or-ocean-launched 5th-generation aircraft but is now developing one in the form the J-31, a carrier-launched 5th-generation fighter jet which now only appears as several prototypes.Perhaps China is preparing for a day it anticipates in coming years wherein it does in fact operate 5th-generation stealth air attack from the ocean and project entirely new dimension of maritime and multi-domain power.
US Army Pacific Takes Notice
All of these factors provide ample evidence for why the US and India are not only massively increasing military and weapons development modernization but also establishing new ports, basing and operational locations for US Navy vessels along India’s Eastern coast. This will help the US refuel and sustain its carriers and warships but also support the many logistical challenges know characterize the Indo-Pacific.
US Army Pacific is tracking this dynamic as well, as evidenced in its recently published text, “America’s Theater Army for the Indo-Pacific,” which details some of the specifics informing the PRC’s expansionist aims and strategies throughout the region. This would make sense given the land masses in SouthEast Asia and along the coast of the Bay of Bengal and of course the increasingly tense areas along disputed areas of the Line of Actual Control border area between India and Western China.
The paper provide summaries of China’s well known Belt-Road-Initiative. The BRI includes a mix of transportation and economic alignments along the periphery of mainland China designed to expedite an ability to mass power, deploy and move resources throughout SouthEast Asia. BRI includes railways, port access and logistical support for global naval deployment, the Army Pacific text states.
“Recent agreements with countries such as Cambodia on Ream Port and Sri Lanka on the Port of Hambantota provide strategic positioning and expanded access to the region’s waterways,” the Army Pacific text states.
The BRI has been followed by what the Army Pacific text refers to as “Digital Silk Road” in which avenues for technology-focused investments were emphasized and added to the PRC strategy in the region.
There is also China’s “nine-dash-line” claim, an assertion reportedly rooted in the Chinese Dynastic era hundreds of years ago .. claiming the entirety of the South China Sea as its own territory.
Kris Osborn is President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
