Stakes in Seychelles

On January 11, when China launched a missile to destroy its ageing weather satellite and demonstrated effectively its anti-satellite weapons capability, it took the world, including India, by surprise. China8217;s more terrestrial explorations also demand attention as a report front-paged by this newspaper has just underlined. One of the destinations that Chinese President Hu Jintao will head for, during his current eight-nation African tour, is the Indian Ocean island state of Seychelles.

This new cordiality between China and Seychelles 8212; the Hu visit is the first by a Chinese leader of his rank 8212; is intriguing. It can, of course, be regarded as of a piece with the larger Chinese project of wooing Africa in order to secure its vital mineral supplies. Even before he left for his African tour, Hu Jintao announced preferential loans to the tune of 3 billion and more aid over the next three years to China8217;s trading partners in Africa, and China also plans to sign debt relief agreements with 33 African countries by the end of this year in keeping with the promise it made at last year8217;s Sino-African Forum. As for the Chinese warmth towards Seychelles specifically, it could be inspired by the fact that a small percentage of citizens of the island nation are of Chinese stock, and there have always been trading links between the two countries which have grown over the years 8212; trade between the two countries touched 3.41 million in 2005. But Hu Jintao8217;s visit to Victoria next week appears to signify a larger intent, given Seychelles8217; strategic location in the Indian Ocean and, indeed, the strategic location of the Indian Ocean itself. An estimated half of the globe8217;s containerised freight and at least two-thirds of its oil shipments navigate these waters. China, let us also not forget, already has a presence in the region, having built the Gwadar port in Pakistan.

All these various factors imbue the Chinese visitation with a significance that India can ignore only at the cost of its larger strategic objectives, both in economic and military terms. Most of India8217;s trade is by sea and ensuring the security of its vital sea lanes in the Indian Ocean is a paramount objective. India can, in fact, learn a great deal from the display of Chinese activism in the region.