China and India are aggressively and strategically competing over gaining control of international waters south of Hambantota, Sri Lanka. Over the years, the two countries have been fortifying their forces around the vital water way in a bid to gain influence in the region.

The vital water way lies south of Sri Lanka and north of Antarctica in the Indian Ocean and is one of the world’s great trade arteries, the shipping lanes where thousands of vessels carry oil from the Middle East and raw materials to Asia, return with toys, clothes, television sets and sneakers for European consumers.

According to the International Herald Tribune these tankers provide 80 percent of China’s oil and 65 percent of India’s fuel desperately needed for the two countries’ rapidly growing economies. Japan, too, is almost totally dependent on energy supplies shipped through the Indian Ocean. Any disruption — from terrorism, piracy, natural disaster or war — could have devastating effects on these countries and, in an increasingly interdependent world, send ripples across the globe.

Both countries, China and India have been building forces to increase their influence over this vital trade artery.

China has given massive aid to Indian Ocean nations, signing friendship pacts, building ports in Pakistan and Bangladesh as well as Sri Lanka, and reportedly setting up a listening post on one of Myanmar’s islands near the strategic Strait of Malacca.

Meanwhile India, is also building ports in Myanmar, beefing up its military with support from the U.S. and Japan and has reportedly also set up listening posts on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, off the east coast of India, in addition to Mozambique and Madagascar.

At a time when India-China trade is growing exponentially, it needs to be seen how the two countries wield the soft power they are building. Both of them have the might to control the waters off Hambantota, however neither country can afford to trigger a war in such a strategic place.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008 at 5:33 pm and is filed under Government, Trade, Economy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.