India's Necklace of Diamonds Strategy : A Counter to China's String of Pearls

It is very evident now and from the past actions of China that it is expanding its military might and trading not only in the South China Sea but around the globe and especially in the Indian Ocean through its 'Debt Trap Diplomacy' and 'String of Pearls' strategy which posed a great threat directly to India and indirectly to the whole world.

What is China's String of Pearls?

It is an attempt by China to encircle India through maintaining and developing its strategic bases in countries around India, such as at Karachi (Gwadar Port) Pakistan, Chittagong (Bangladesh), at Colombo and Hambantota  (both in Sri Lanka), the Maldives, Myanmar, and some other small island nations which will help in confining India to its own land and limiting its influence on the neighboring countries. This will provide China easy access and control over the vast Indian Ocean.

This String of Pearls phenomena in the background of recent Chinese 'One Belt One Road' or the OBOR and CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) strategy has got a further boost as China is not only focusing on countries around India but stretching its arms further to Central Asia and Africa.

India's Necklace of Diamonds Strategy

In a counter-action, India started working on the 'Necklace of Diamonds' strategy. This strategy aimed at garlanding China i.e; the counter encirclement strategy(shown in the figure above). India is expanding its naval bases and is also improving relations with strategically placed countries to counter China's strategies.

India's Strategic Bases (Mining the Diamonds)

• Changi Naval Base, Singapore – Prime Minister Narendra Modi paved the way for the signing of a significant agreement between India and Singapore which provided Indian Navy ‘direct’ access to this naval base. This is crucial as Indian navy ships can now not only refuel but even rearm while sailing through the South China Sea.

• Sabang Port, Indonesia – India got the military access to a strategic port like Sabang in 2018, located right at the entrance of one of the world’s most famous choke point, Malacca Strait. This is one of the most significant agreements, as India now holds the strategic position in the Indian ocean through which a large chunk of trade and crude oil passes on to China. Indian Naval ship INS Sumitra had visited Sabang Port recently.

• Al Duqm Port, Oman – India leveraging its rising status in the Indian Ocean gained strategic military access to this port in 2018, located on the south-eastern seaboard of Oman which protects Indian interests in the western theatre of the Indian Ocean, especially for facilitating India’s crude imports from the Persian Gulf. Moreover, it is now an Indian facility located right between the two important Chinese pearls (bases) Djibouti in Africa and Gwadar in Pakistan.

• Assumption Island, (North of Madagascar) Seychelles – Overcoming the initial resistance, India is now developing this naval base in Seychelles, first agreed in 2015. Both the countries have continued to work on the project which gives the military access to India. This particularly signifies India’s increasing strategic presence not only in the Indian Ocean but also in the African continent where China is desperately trying to penetrate through the maritime silk route

• Chabahar Port, Iran – Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed the contract for the development of this port in 2016. This port provides India access to Afghanistan and a precious trade route to Central Asia. In fact, India is reportedly about to begin operations at the Iranian port soon. This will give an unprecedented boost to India’s plan to increase its co-operation and contacts with Asian and Central Asian countries.
  

India's Strategic Cooperations

Apart from getting direct access to the strategically placed naval bases, India is also developing new naval bases, and renovating the old ones and is enhancing relations with other nations to garland China. 

• Mongolia- Prime Minister Modi is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit this country. Both the nations have agreed and will collaborate to develop a bilateral air corridor using India's credit line.

• Vietnam- India is maintaining good relations with Vietnam and has so far sold BrahMos missile and 4 patrol boats to the country.

• Japan- India, and Japan have jointly declared to built the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor.

•  Central Asia- The Prime Minister of India has visited all the 5 countries of Central Asia in one go. Within 4 years the trade between India and Central Asia countries has doubled after the PM's visit.

Conclusion

After looking at all the facts, it can be said that India in recent times has worked incessantly towards asserting itself to achieve better strategic cooperation with other countries. India’s recent policy shift from Non-Alignment to Multi-Alignment also reflects in the above discussion. India is not only developing the existing strategic bases (diamonds in its necklace) but also building newer bases, as well.

Further, India is fast developing routes to reach Central Asian countries. All the countries discussed above have shown great interest in connecting and working together with India. Some of them are cooperating with India to increase their trade relations, while others maintain the ‘balance of power’ in specific regions.

Resultantly, an explicit pattern has emerged from India’s recent foreign policy pushes that India has befriended with almost all the countries in China’s periphery, and in the way, this is giving India the strategic access. This pattern can be seen in the necklace of diamonds that garlands China.