China View: China’s Indian Ocean Maritime Road
Lately, multiple media have been exposing the issues involving China, India, and Pakistan in the mutual bordering region of Kashmir. While tensions between China and India have existed since the end of the 20th century due to their developing potential and competing economic markets, it is since the introduction of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that they have escalated. In a previous article, Modern Treatise had already covered the territorial initiatives that linked China to its close ally, Pakistan, but few readers know about the perspective of countries in the Indian Ocean on the matter. What role do Madagascar, the Republic of Mauritius, Seychelles, Maldives, and Sri Lanka have in the maritime “road?”
The “One Belt One Road Initiative”, shortened “Belt and Road” (BRI), is an enormous infrastructure development plan connecting China to developed and developing economies via sea and land. Adopted in 2013, under the Xi Administration, this initiative is an ambitious enlargement of the Silk Road that for centuries connected the Chinese Empire to other civilizations in Eurasia and the Middle East. Although most of the member countries adhering to the BRI are hungry for foreign investment, sources have hypothesized that China expects much more in exchange compared to what it gives out in cash. Among the common concerns is that building bridges, ports, highways and, in general, economic corridors across three-fourths of the planet may be a political strategy to expand Chinese sovereignty all over the globe. Below, an informative video by CNBC explains in detail the advantages and disadvantages the BRI brings to specific countries.
As announced from the CNBC video, the maritime “road” particularly helps China tackling the its rivalry with India. Being that India is China’s most direct competitor in Asia, and similar to China in terms of population density and tech development, the BRI via sea passively surrounds India’s borders. In fact, thanks to this initiative, China is tied significantly to countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan (through Xinjiang). According to India’s former foreign affairs secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the interconnectivity created with the BRI puts countries in the position to have their foreign policy choices influenced by Beijing. New Delhi, on the other hand, sits uncomfortably at a table full of Asian leaders valuing Chinese investment more than anything, because they likely would not be able to use the same funds for infrastructure development in absence of it.
According to Belt & Road News, India is considering signing the US-led “Blue Dot Network” (BDN), created by the Trump Administration as an alternative to the BRI. The BDN, however, was only discussed in the most recent visit of Trump to India early in 2020, therefore it is nowhere nearly as developed as the BRI. Among the clauses of the BDN, India would agree to a $3 billion military equipment deal and a long campaign to secure the 5G network. This, however, would probably allow the US to interfere in India’s decision-making just as much as China could interfere in BRI countries. Again, this proves that despite their differences, China and the U.S. are very similar in their perspective of how big power politics should be led, and they both see themselves having a central role in the global economy.
The reason China involved countries in the Indian Ocean that are typically more spoken about due to their paradisiac landscapes and flourishing tourism industries such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Seychelles, Mauritius, and Madagascar, is that these are also considered China’s getaway to Africa. Sri Lanka, for instance, had for long been highly dependent on India, but through the Hambantota Port project and Hambantota Industrial Zone, China gave Sri Lanka the tools to diversify its connectivity and start expelling its debt. Both Hambantota infrastructure plans are direct competitors to the prosperous Indian Sagarmala Port. However, Sri Lanka’s inability to keep up with the heavy costs of these projects led leaders to renegotiate a deal with China Merchant Port Holdings (CM Ports) in 2017, where the latter would inject US$ 1.1 billion for an 85% stake and 99-year lease. This gives China incredible power overseas. While China is aiding different sectors in Sri Lanka, including medical care with the “Health Silk Road,” experts are worried this initiative is leading Sri Lanka to a debt-trap with China.
This is clearly a common risk for small countries like the Seychelles and Maldives, heavily dependent on the tertiary sector, which has been going through a difficult time amid Coronavirus outbreak and the impossibility for incoming tourism to fly in. In both the Seychelles and Maldives, China is involved in bilateral ties supporting the local marine economy, culture, and tourism. A Seychellois government source reports that during the 2019 Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, the Seychelles delegation discussed the possibility to initiate flights, scheduled twice weekly, with China Tengkun Air Service Company to enhance Chinese tourism. While COVID-19 started proliferating from China, it turns out the Chinese are still the most likely to invest abroad and travel again due to their steady recovery, ahead of most countries. Similarly, China is working with the Maldives to boost tourism there too. Maldivian Ambassador to China, Mohamed Faisal, has expressed the satisfaction of the Maldives in building deep cooperation with China since 2017, which would soon include the expansion of facilities at Male International Airport, increasing its capacity to 7 million passengers per year. Other infrastructure projects include the 2-kilometer China-Maldives Friendship Bridge, connecting the Maldivian capital of Male to a neighboring island.
The Republic of Mauritius, instead, is a separate case because Mauritians have significant ethnic ties with China. Among the most prominent minority groups, Chinese Mauritians makeup about 3% of the population and are the second-wealthiest group in Mauritius, owning properties and activities. Chinese Mauritians often speak up to four languages, including Creole, French, English, and Chinese (predominantly Cantonese or Hakka), and value their personal and commercial ties with China’s Mainland. As part of the BRI, Mauritius deepened its commons grounds with China in the educational, cultural, and medical fields. In fact, Chinese festivities and approaches to medicine (e.g. acupuncture) are celebrated all over Mauritius, and children can choose to go to Chinese schools if they want to. Another pivotal agreement between China and Mauritius is to keep an eye on the movement of the Diego Garcia military base. This is a UK-US military base that stands in the middle of the Indian Ocean and, while it is not widely renown, has the aim of projecting these countries’ power in the region.
Lastly, Madagascar acknowledges its important role in allowing China to access Africa via the Indian Ocean. According to Malagasy President Andry Rajoelina, “The Belt & Road Initiative is an invigorating program which allows for an increase in the trade between Asia and Africa. Hundreds of thousands, even millions of people will benefit from the future increase of trade, and Madagascar plans to play an active role in this program.” Chinese-led infrastructure projects have included the “Egg Road”, named by egg farmers that before this project had to drive through a rocky and muddy road daily from their farms to Antananarivo. 10% of their eggs would break on their way to the capital. As reported by the public, China’s Jiangxi Zhongmei Engineering Construction Company has brought important change to the facilities of Madagascar since 2018, enabling locals to find jobs as stonemasons, porters, security guards, truck drivers, and company employees. Generally, sources report Madagascar is grateful to China for the many opportunities it has been creating, and to the Chinese in the country that have helped the people of Madagascar in times of need.
A negative consequence not mentioned often is the environmental impact the BRI infrastructure projects are leading to. China has only just become acquainted with the eco-friendly world and has little knowledge of sustainability. This explains the speed at which these projects have become tangible bridges, highways, or ports. Certainly, this is an aspect that is too important and should not be overlooked especially by small countries in the Indian Ocean, which dispose of fantastic flora and fauna that should not be destroyed for the sake of investment.
Regardless of one’s views on the BRI, it is undeniable that China has made unprecedented investment moves in countries that experts often do not consider as important as others in the global economy. The Chinese strategy, in fact, has so far focused on economies that other powers like the US have often ignored. Helping the Indian Ocean would of course enlarge the circle of loyal friends China already has as it seeks to grow its influence in a region that is quickly emerging from strategic irrelevance to become one of the fronts of the greatest geopolitical conflict of this century.
