India Adds US Navy-Joint Ports, Patrols Along Its Eastern Coast by Indian Ocean

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.