Foreign Military Bases: India Far behind China
STORIES, ANALYSES, EXPERT VIEWS
China’s has has been acquiring foreign military bases for more than a decade. It opened its first foreign military base in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa in 2017. It is building a second foreign military base at Ream, Cambodia.
The recent US annual report on Chinese military power cites several countries that are being targeted by the People’s Liberation Army for military bases. While Myanmar, Thailand and Sri Lanka are candidates from the Bay of Bengal, there are many places to the west of India including Namibia, Seychelles, Tanzania, and the UAE. Pakistan, is of course, in a category of its own. And Pakistan is likely to emerge as the most important vehicle for Chinese naval power projection in the Indian Ocean, with significant implications for India’s military planning.
China undercutting India strategically
China’s strategy, writes C Raja Mohan (director, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore and contributing editor on international affairs for The Indian Express) is “seeking military access to the subcontinent and the Indian Ocean while undercutting Delhi’s strategic partnerships in the region.”
Earlier, the Chinese and Indian positions on foreign military bases was similar. In the second half of the 20th century, Delhi, like Beijing, opposed foreign military bases in Asia and the Indian Ocean. But things began to change for both countries.
“In the 21st century, like Beijing, the security establishment began to note India’s growing strategic interests beyond borders. As the inevitability of China’s naval power projection into the Indian Ocean became clear, Delhi began to recognise the need for military access to strategic locations in the Indo-Pacific. But it was hard to wean the political class from the old shibboleths on foreign military bases. As a result, India lost much time in the first decade of the 21st century. In the last few years, India has stepped up its military diplomacy.
Delhi is a long way from matching China: “Delhi’s efforts to secure access involved negotiating arrangements with friendly states in the Indian Ocean as well as developing deeper strategic partnerships with the US and its regional allies. But Delhi is a long way from matching the speed and intensity of Chinese military diplomacy in its near and extended neighbourhood. And the growing gap could present serious problems to India in the not-too-distant future.”
