China reactions towards India’s military modernization at Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Abstract

This research studies the factors that lead to India's military modernisation in Andaman and Nicobar Islands (ANI). The research focuses on the geostrategic elements of the ANI and the contemporary Sino-Indian relationship. This research has three objectives namely 1) to study the factors that led to India's military modernization, 2) to examine the impact of India's military modernisation on China and 3) to analyse the China's reaction to it. The theory of realism was applied to support the argument of Sino-Indian relations, as both countries have a particular interest in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). This research uses a qualitative technique that is based on secondary data references from credible sources, both printed and online. This research findings that the Andaman and Nicobar archipelagos consist of 572 islands and islets chain stretched from the southern tip of Myanmar to the north-western tip of Sumatra is India’s potential fortress of defence in the Bay of Bengal. Since 2001, the Indian government has established a tri-service Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) at Port Blair to protect its sovereignty in the Indian Ocean. India announced the massive weapon procurement plan forecast for a 15 years period (2012-2027), followed by establishment of the Island Development Agency (IDA) in 2017 in effort to shift the archipelago from a merely military base into an active economic hub. This gained reaction from China as it sees India is projecting supremacy over its backyard, creating a possible “security chain” that would supresses China besides the existing “Malacca’s Dilemma”. This research concludes Andaman and Nicobar has a great potential in the future due to its location between two major seas, the South China Sea (SCS) and the Indian Ocean. Its proximity to the Straits of Malacca (SOM) gives leverage over one of the world’s busiest trade chokepoints.