India as a naval power: the fight against piracy and the challenge to China
Delhi has deployed a dozen warships to the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden to show that it is "proactive", experts say, while not participating in the US-led task force against Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. Since the start of the year, the Indian Navy has reported an increase in piracy incidents, towards which it has taken an aggressive approach. But Delhi’s number one rival is still Beijing.
New Delhi (AsiaNews) – India has deployed ten warships in the Arabian Sea and two frontline ships in the Gulf of Aden to counter the rising threat of piracy.
This is India’s largest deployment in the region, according to Indian officials, only partly due to Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, where a US-led task force is operating but without Indian participation.
According to a report by the Indian Navy, at least 17 attempts were made to seize ships since 1 December and more than 250 boats have been searched by Indian forces. This week alone, the latter freed three fishing vessels, two Iranian and one Sri Lankan, captured by Somali pirates.
Some observers believe that the shift of international naval forces from the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea has left a security vacuum in waters that have long been targeted by China – along with the South China Sea. Beijing needs them to expand its trade and secure alternative routes for its energy supply.
On Tuesday, the Royal Navy’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) office reported the presence of two groups of pirates operating in the Indian Ocean, one south of the island of Socotra, a territory that is part of Yemen.
Both groups could include "a mothership and a number of small crafts," UMKTO said, advising ships to "transit with caution" and report suspicious activity.
India has some experience in countering piracy, and has adopted an aggressive strategy to deal with it. Its anti-piracy operations began in 2008 with more than 100 ships deployed so far.
“We are going after them (pirates). We want to tell them that this (the Indian Ocean Region) is not the place for them to indulge in piracy,” said recently Navy Chief of Staff Admiral R. Hari Kumar.
At a press conference, Admiral Kumar confirmed a rise in attacks at sea since the start of this year. However, a peak of incidents in the Indian Ocean was reached in 2011 with 237, mainly by Somali pirates. Only at the start of 2023 was the region finally declared safe thanks to international patrols and reconnaissance.
About 13 per cent of India's trade takes the Gulf of Aden route and hundreds of Indians are employed on merchant ships. Further east, about 60 per cent of Indian cargo vessels use shipping lanes in the South China Sea. Here, India is not yet able to project its maritime power against China, and needs international support.
The recent decision by the Biden administration to sell drones to India as well as other equipment worth almost US$ 4 billion could have the dual purpose of supporting Delhi’s anti-piracy operations, as well as boosting the alliance between Western and Asian powers to counter China’s footprint in the Indo-Pacific region.
On 24 January, Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, and the United States completed annual joint naval exercises, called Sea Dragon. All of these countries, except for South Korea, are members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD), commonly known as the Quad, a forum viewed as a response to China’s assertiveness.
India also deployed three guided missile destroyers and reconnaissance aircraft to the vast Indian Ocean amid disruptions in global shipping due to attacks by Yemen-based Houthi rebels in the Red Sea since November. This waterway handles about 12 per cent of global trade.
This allows India to be “proactive”, said Vice Admiral Anil Kumar Chawla, who retired in 2021 as head of India’s southern naval command. “We are not doing it only out of altruism. Unless you are a maritime power you can never aspire to be a global power,” he explained.
India has widely publicised its naval operations, showing willingness to take on greater responsibility for the region's maritime security and counter its Chinese rival.
“It is a message to China that, look, we can deploy such a large force here. This is our backyard. Though we don’t own it, but we are probably the most capable and responsible resident naval power,” Chawla added.
Several experts agreed with these observations. “The Chinese are looking for more and more naval bases in the extended Indian Ocean,” said Lt. Gen. D. S. Hooda, a former Indian military officer and now a strategic expert. “Seeing that, India doesn’t have any other option but to keep building up its own.”
Last year, alarm bells were set off in Delhi after several Chinese ships called at ports in the Maldives (whose new government wants to expel Indian troops currently deployed there) and Sri Lanka.
As a result, the Indian government increased the part of its defence budget (US$ 72.6 billion) dedicated to the Navy, from 14 per cent to 19 per cent.
The head of the Navy also announced that India's first aircraft carrier could be operational as early as mid-2024.
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