Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to offer island nations in the Indian Ocean a broad range of military and civilian assistance next week in a bid to wrest back some of the influence China has gained by spending billions of dollars in the region.
Modi is set to make the pledges during a visit to Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Mauritius and the Seychelles after decades of neglect by successive Indian governments. His trip to Sri Lanka is set to be the first in 28 years by an Indian prime minister.
China has built seaports, power plants and highways across the small island nations. Its navy has also made forays into the Indian Ocean, including when submarines docked last year in Sri Lanka, rattling New Delhi, which has an uneasy relationship with Beijing.
New Delhi is hoping to tie the islands into a closer security embrace, Indian officials said.
“India has a role as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean region,” said a defense official involved in preparations for Modi’s trip, which begins on Tuesday next week. “We are providing patrol ships, surveillance radars and ocean mapping for the island states.”
At the top of Modi’s agenda is Sri Lanka, where the government, concerned at Beijing’s growing influence, is reviewing infrastructure contracts the previous administration awarded to China. It has also ruled out additional Chinese submarine visits in the near future.
Modi is expected to tighten defense and security cooperation and push for final approval for a 500 megawatt power plant to be built by India’s state-run National Thermal Power Corp under a 2012 agreement in Trincomalee, a strategic port in eastern Sri Lanka, Indian officials said.
The two sides are also in talks to upgrade military training, a Sri Lankan government official said.
During the past year, the Indian defense ministry carried out a survey to identify the maritime needs of the island nations and has begun addressing them, the Indian defense official said.
Modi will commission a 1,300-tonne Indian-built patrol vessel in Mauritius, the first of such sales which include fast attack vessels under construction in Indian shipyards.
“We have practically given Mauritius a coastguard,” former head of Indian naval intelligence commodore Ranjit Rai said.
Other nations require similar maritime assistance, according to the Indian defense ministry assessment.
Sri Lanka also needs help with fisheries patrols, while the Maldives needs assistance with surveillance against piracy as well as the threat of Islamic State supporters finding a sanctuary in the island chain.
Meanwhile, India and the Seychelles are expected to sign an agreement on mapping of the waters around the archipelago during Modi’s visit.
At the same time, China is upgrading the Maldives’ international airport after authorities canceled a deal with an Indian firm in 2012.
China has in the past also considered the Seychelles as a potential resupply port for navy ships taking part in anti-piracy operations off Africa. Its submarines, one of them nuclear-powered, docked in Sri Lanka on their way to join the anti-piracy operations.
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