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2 China moves into India's back
yard By Sudha Ramachandran
BANGALORE - China is all set to drop
anchor at India's southern doorstep. An agreement
has been finalized between Sri Lanka and China
under which the latter will participate in the
development of a port project at Hambantota on the
island's south coast.
An agreement on the
Hambantota project was among eight that were
signed during Sri Lankan President Mahinda
Rajapakse's recent visit to China. Even as the Sri
Lankans were finalizing the
deal
with the Chinese, they clinched an agreement with
the Americans. In Colombo, officials reached
agreement on an Acquisition and Cross-Servicing
Agreement (ACSA) with the US.
The
agreements come at a time when India is already
watching with concern the growing Pakistani
influence in Sri Lanka.
The Hambantota
Development Zone, which the Chinese will help
build, will include a container port, a bunkering
system, an oil refinery, an airport and other
facilities. It is expected to cost about US$1
billion and the Chinese are said to be financing
more than 85% of the project.
Construction
on the first phase of the project is scheduled to
begin in July and is due to be completed in three
years. The entire project is scheduled to be
completed in the next 15 years.
Sino-Sri
Lankan cooperation on the port project is expected
to propel Hambantota, 240 kilometers south of the
Lankan capital, Colombo, into a major
transshipment hub. Hambantota's infrastructure
will help service hundreds of ships that ply the
waters to the south of Sri Lanka.
China's
role in the Hambantota project has stirred concern
in some quarters in India. Some analysts here have
argued that India has lost out to the Chinese.
They say China won the project thanks to Indian
lethargy and shortsightedness. According to this
view, while India has been dragging its feet on
this and other issues, the Chinese quickly moved
in to clinch the deal. In the process, it has made
inroads into Sri Lanka - a country that India
regards as within its sphere of influence.
However, there are others who have played
down the implications of the Sino-Lankan
cooperation at Hambantota. They dismiss
allegations that India lost the port project to
the Chinese and maintain that India was not
interested in the Hambantota oil-tank farm and
bunkering project in the first place, as it
already has a sizable presence in Trincomalee on
Sri Lanka's northeast coast.
"India feels
that it is unnecessary to bid for it [Hambantota]
given the fact that it is already refurbishing the
World War II-vintage oil-tank farm at Trincomalee
with 99 giant tanks. Out of these, only 35 can be
put to use in the near future," a report in the
Hindustan Times said in 2005. "There isn't enough
business in Sri Lanka to make expansion worthwhile
even in Trincomalee. India also does not consider
the Hambantota project to be of a great strategic
value, either. For India, a presence in
Trincomalee makes much more strategic sense."
An official in Delhi told Asia Times
Online that while the Hambantota project gives the
Chinese a foothold in Sri Lanka, this cannot be
interpreted as a decline in India's role on the
island. Geographic proximity, ethnic links and
close ties between India and Sri Lanka cannot be
eroded by a few projects and agreements with other
countries, he said.
But the Chinese role
in the Hambantota project is not just about
influence in Sri Lanka. It is about China's
presence close to Indian shores, which has
implications for India's security. Besides, with
Hambantota, Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean
has been further consolidated.
The
Hambantota port project is the latest in a series
of steps that China has taken in recent years to
consolidate its access to the Indian Ocean and to
secure sea lanes through which its energy supplies
are transported. It has adopted what analysts
describe as a "string of pearls" strategy,
building strategic relationships with countries
along sea lanes from the Middle East to the South
China Sea.
One such "pearl" is Gwadar,
Pakistan. Since late 2001, China has been engaged
in constructing and developing a deepsea port and
a special economic zone at Gwadar, in Balochistan
province. China's interest in Gwadar is motivated
by the latter's strategic location. Gwadar is just
72km from the Iranian border and 400km east of the
Strait of Hormuz, a major conduit of global oil
supplies. China's massive involvement in the
Gwadar project - it has provided most of its
funding and technical expertise - has provided
Beijing with a "listening post" from where it can
"monitor US naval activity in the Persian Gulf,
Indian activity in the Arabian Sea, and future
US-Indian maritime cooperation in the Indian
Ocean", Zia
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