Geopolitics of Indian ocean Region(IOR)

The Indian Ocean has always had a geopolitical significance to the world. There has been a belief that whoever controls the Ocean controls the world. So, a geopolitical presence in the region will mean a race for becoming a superpower. This recognition is not a new phenomenon but exists from time immemorial.

Mackinder’s Heartland Theory provides that the Indian Ocean has been a zone of conflict since the end of the Second World War. The conflict was always between the superpower countries of the time.

Brief About Indian Ocean

    The Indian Ocean, a body of saltwater covering approximately one-fifth of the total ocean area of the world. It is the smallest, geologically youngest, and physically most complex of the world’s three major oceans. It stretches for more than 6,200 miles (10,000 km) between the southern tips of Africa and Australia and, without its marginal seas.

     It is bounded by Iran, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh to the north; the Malay Peninsula, the Sunda Islands of Indonesia, and Australia to the east; Antarctica to the south; and Africa and the Arabian Peninsula to the west. In the southwest, it joins the Atlantic Ocean south of the southern tip of Africa, and to the east and southeast, its waters mingle with those of the Pacific Ocean.

The question of defining the oceanic limits of the Indian Ocean is complicated and remains unsettled. There is no universal agreement on the southern limit of the Indian Ocean.

It has the fewest marginal seas of the major oceans. To the north are the inland Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. The Arabian Sea is to the northwest and the Andaman Sea to the northeast. The large gulfs of Aden and Oman are to the northwest, the Bay of Bengal is to the northeast, and the Great Australian Bight is off the southern coast of Australia.

Geopolitical Significance of Indian Ocean

Trade Volume

    The Indian Ocean is one of the world’s busiest oceans. Today, almost 90,000 vessels in the world’s commercial fleet transport 9.84 billion tonnes per year through the Indian Ocean. Also, it enjoys a privileged location at the crossroads of global trade, connecting the major engines of the international economy in the Northern Atlantic and Asia-Pacific which means that he who controls the Indian Ocean controls the trade of major economies of the world.

Trade Route Through the Indian Ocean Region

Strategic Depth: 

    Indian Ocean region connects 3 continents (Africa, Asia and Australia) and 2 Oceans (Atlantic and Pacific) with each other. In other words, if the security of this region gets compromised, then economic activities on more than 50% of the globe will be stalled. Having said that, the one who controls the Indian Ocean will control all these economic activities.

Moreover, the Indian Ocean is the battleground for some of the key sea lanes in the world like- Malacca Strait and Strait of Hormuz

    The Indian Ocean region has two major countries possessing nuclear capability which are India and Pakistan. More than half the world’s armed conflicts are presently located in the Indian Ocean region, while the waters are also home to continually evolving strategic developments including the competing rises of China and India, the potential nuclear confrontation between India and Pakistan, the US interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, Islamist terrorism, growing incidence of piracy in and around the Horn of Africa, and management of diminishing fishery resources 

    Due to an unstable political relation amongst the countries of the Indian subcontinent, the US and its allies have forced their presence in the Ocean. As a result of all this, almost all the world’s major powers have deployed substantial military forces in the Indian Ocean region. For example, in addition to maintaining expeditionary forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US 5th Fleet is headquartered in Bahrain and uses the island of Diego Garcia as a major air-naval base and logistics hub for its Indian Ocean operations. In addition, the United States has deployed several major naval task forces there, including Combined Task Force 152, which is aimed at safeguarding the flow of oil through the Persian Gulf, and Combined Task Force 150, which is tasked with countering piracy from the Gulf of Oman to Kenya.

Military Base Camps around The Indian Ocean Region 

The OIL angle: 

80% of the oil trade through the sea route occurs through this ocean.

    Majority of crude oil is imported from the gulf countries. The route of this oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz into the Arabian sea and subsequently into the Indian Ocean. So, it is safe to say that majority of oil is transferred to their destination through Indian Ocean region which makes it the flashpoint of geopolitics as these oil vessels if obstructed will obstruct the growth engine of the country which it belongs to.

It carries particularly heavy traffic of petroleum and petroleum products from the oil fields of the Persian Gulf and Indonesia.

    This is the sole reason for China trying to find an alternative route through the China-Pakistan economic corridor (CPEC) because 70% of its oil is transferred through the Indian Ocean where the Indian Navy has a strong presence.

Oil Trade Route Through the Indian Ocean Region

Large Drainage Basin: 

    The Ocean’s vast drainage basin is important in its own right, home to some two billion people. This creates opportunities, especially given the high rates of economic growth around the Indian Ocean rim, including in India, Bangladesh, Southeast Asia, and Eastern and Southern Africa.

Natural Resources: 

    Finally, the Indian Ocean is rich in natural resources. 40% of the world’s offshore oil production takes place in the Indian Ocean basin. This region is rich in Fishing and other Aquaculture activities. Mineral resources are equally important, with nodules containing nickel, cobalt, and iron, and massive sulfide deposits of manganese, copper, iron, zinc, silver, and gold present in sizable quantities on the sea bed. Indian Ocean coastal sediments are also important sources of titanium, zirconium, tin, zinc, and copper. Additionally, various rare earth elements are present, even if their extraction is not always commercially feasible. Large reserves of hydrocarbons are being tapped in the offshore areas of Saudi Arabia, Iran, India, and Western Australia    

There is a high probability of finding valuable sea bed resources which are still undiscovered. 

    Beach sands rich in heavy minerals, and offshore placer deposits are actively exploited by bordering countries, particularly India, Pakistan, South Africa, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand

This abundance of natural resources, among other factors, has facilitated trade-led growth within this region.

Current Status of Geopolitics

However, the current geopolitical position in the Indian Ocean is changing considerably. The recent years have been witnessing an increased Chinese presence in the region, with China making a surprising shift from the Western Pacific and the North Sea to the Indian Ocean. Some of the initiatives taken that indicate its presence are:

• It is in the process of creating a quasi-naval base covering the whole of northern Indian Ocean on the lands of the countries like Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Horn of Africa. Its objective is to protect its trade in the Suez Canal and the Strait of Malacca. It claimed that piracy near the Horn of Africa requires it to have this strong naval base, which it named as the ‘String of Pearls’.
• It is developing a maritime silk trade route and is also conducting research on the polymetallic nodules that are found in the sea bed of the Indian Ocean. It has also extracted gold from this sea bed recently.
• It has started developing the Gwadar port in Pakistan, Kyaukphyu in Myanmar and Chittagong in Bangladesh so that oil transports to China go unhindered.
• A presence in the Indian Ocean is also helping China to engage more with the African countries. China aims to help these countries in development activities so that it can get African support in pushing forward its One China Policy for getting control over Taiwan and to counter the human rights claims that are brought against it to the United Nations.

China's "One Road One Belt" Project Plan 

    No denial of the fact that with the USA losing its stronghold as a superpower since the last decade, China is in the race to fill up this power vacuum. It is trying to gain a position of superpower through granting of loans at generous repayable terms to the Asian countries and investing in some of the major infrastructure projects like dams, roads, ports and railways. It has also started providing military assistance to some of the littoral countries by exercising its veto power in the UN Security Council.

@N. Ramchander