Prime minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit the capital of our neighboring country, the maldives, on July 26 for a two-day visit to attend the Independence Day celebrations as the chief guest. Our Prime minister, who is going there at the invitation of the country's President Mohamed Morsi, is scheduled to hold talks on the political and economic relations between the two countries. Subsequently, the two countries are set to sign various cooperation agreements. Whenever we talk about our country's neighboring countries, it does not stop with bilateral relations. On the contrary, they are also carried out in conjunction with international relations and political changes. In that regard, our country pays special attention to the international politics and security issues of the indian Ocean countries like the maldives and sri lanka to the south. Especially, following the recent Operation Sindhoor against the terrorist attack by Pakistan, our thinking about the indian Ocean has also increased.
China continues to claim that the indian Ocean, which bears the name of our country, is not India's sea. At the same time, the country is claiming the sea areas of east and Southeast Asia as its own without any reason. In any case, beyond the fact that we have priority in the indian Ocean, the day is not far off when it will be accepted as 'India's pond'. In the international arena, only the united states was known as a world power in the post-Cold war period. From then until now, china has been making a concerted effort to have the world accept it as such. That is why both those countries want to continue to see our country, which has the potential to become a superpower in the future, in second place.
The united states currently needs our friendship and joint operations in the indian Ocean region. Their friendship is in the form of an enemy being a friend to an enemy. Our government is not deceived by that. That is why, even though they are friendly countries, frictions and conflicts occur from time to time. In the sea area adjacent to India, china wanted to cool down by turning friendly countries like sri lanka and the maldives against us. Ten years ago, sri lanka leased the Hambantota port area, known as Ammantota, for 99 years. This is also why china sent its spy ships to these two countries in the name of joint maritime research.

China is moving its pawns in both the indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The cruel thing about this is that the united states and china, who are in a competition to see who is the greatest among them, are not keeping their heroic games in the Pacific Ocean that they share. In the indian Ocean region, it is part of our international strategy to accommodate the united states to some extent. When china is moving its pawns in this area with our country in mind, the presence of the American military base in Diego Garcia on the Chagos Islands, belonging to mauritius, will be safe for us.

However, we, who are part of the four-nation alliance called 'Quad' proposed by the US, are not ready to accept it as a military alliance. The reason is that after a certain point, without talking to us, the US will drag our country into a war with third countries. This is how, especially in the wars with Iraq, the US has trapped its european friends. At the same time, in the southern part of the indian Ocean, like the mouth of the indian Ocean, there is the island of Reunion, which belongs to france, and which supports us. There is also a French military base there. For the past several years, our two navies have been conducting military exercises in that area.

At the same time, there is a possibility that france will also participate in international competition in this area in the next three to four decades. The same applies to another european country, Germany. Although both are our allies, there is also a concern that our maritime region could become the site of the next Cold War. In addition, our country is building an air base for bilateral use on the island of mauritius in the region. However, our government is taking steps to make the African island country of madagascar in this region a friendly country.

We are continuously strengthening our military positions in the andaman and lakshadweep areas, which extend towards the mouth of the indian Ocean. Our air Force is stationed in these bases, especially for long-range strikes. Meanwhile, we are also forming an alliance called the 'Colombo Security Organization', which includes our neighboring countries, sri lanka, maldives, and Mauritius. This organization, which currently only covers traditional security matters, can be expected to gradually progress to the next stages.

In that way, starting from the mouth, within a ring of andaman, lakshadweep, mauritius, Reunion, Diego Garcia, and the Colombo Security Organization, it is true that we have turned the indian Ocean into India's pond. If countries like china try to fish by confusing the pond here, it can only be a reaction.
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Sowmiya Sriram

20/07/2025 10:20 AM