Chinese military bases in South China Sea worries India

NEW DELHI: India has raised eyebrows over artificial islands that China is building in the South China Sea (SCS) region -- which can allow Beijing to deploy naval and air forces -- in the strategic waterway that is imperative for Delhi's Asia-Pacific outreach as well as energy investments.
Delhi has stated that stability in the region is necessary for economic prosperity and asserted that threat of force should not be used to settle disputes. Singapore Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen had recently appealed to India to play a bigger role in the ASEAN region as Delhi does not harbour hegemonistic ambitions.

“We call on all parties to avoid the threat or use of force and pursue resolution of territorial and maritime disputes through all peaceful means, in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law,” a diplomatic source here said.

India is in the process of beefing up engagement across economic spheres in the ASEAN region, including oil blocks in Vietnam in the SCS region. Delhi is looking to boost its presence in the Asia-Pacific region following PM Narendra Modi's visit there last November.

“We hope that their presence and participation will increase -- that really adds up to engagement and confidence building and mutual understanding,” Ng had said in a recent interview to news agency Bloomberg, adding, “India is a big country and it’s an influential country.” India’s larger presence in the region could give Southeast Asian nations a cushion against China as that country seeks to make territorial claims to the majority of the South China Sea.

ASEAN and India have a convergence of interest in ensuring the role of existing ASEAN-led security architectures. A robust programme of ASEAN-India post-2015 cooperation that includes maritime cooperation will help to achieve this goal, a diplomatic source averred.

“India enjoys some advantages in ASEAN. First of all, India does not have territorial/maritime disputes with ASEAN countries. In addition, the record of India-ASEAN cooperation suggests that the two sides do not suffer from the “strategic trust deficit”, while the bilateral cooperation seems to have got a new boost from India’s current Look East and Act East policy.

"And lastly, the existing cooperative ASEAN-led mechanisms can still be the effective platforms for further enhancing our bilateral cooperation,” a noted expert on regional security, who did not wish to be identified, told ET.

Diplomatic sources claimed that China’s creation of artificial islands in the South China Sea is happening “so fast” that it will soon be able to claim rights over Exclusive Economic Zones of other countries in the region.

Work by China on artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago in SCS region is progressing fast, according to some recently published satellite photographs. China is building ports and fuel depots as well as two probable airstrips that experts said would allow Beijing to project power across Southeast Asia.

China claims most of the energy-rich South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims. Beijing has rejected diplomatic protests by Manila and Hanoi saying the activities fall “within the scope of China’s sovereignty”.

Chinese strategic experts claim that the build-up was being driven by what Beijing considers security threats from countries in the region.

Diplomatic sources claimed that the islands would give China ability to create an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) above the South China Sea. Japan and the United States criticised China when it imposed an ADIZ above the East China Sea in 2013.

China has occasionally claimed the South China Sea since the late 1940s but Beijing has made stronger claims in the past few years with tensions rising particularly with Vietnam and Philippines.