The Indian Ocean presents a diverse maritime environment ripe with economic potential and many great states, like the Republic of India and the People’s Republic of China, vying for its control. It is the largest ocean in the world; however, it holds some of the most important waterways that cater to Asia’s largest economies, stretching from Africa to the far east, and connects them to over 80% of the world’s seaborne traded oil. This causes the Indian Ocean region to be a highly contested region among world powers.
“Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan once stated the importance of sea power [in the Indian Ocean region] by highlighting six elements of geography (access to sea routes), physical conformation (ports), extent of territory, population, character of the people, and character of government. (Lieutenant Commander Kulatungu, Sri Lankan).”
The presence of these elements has caused nations like Russia, the United States of America, Japan, and most evidently, China to become prevalent in the Indian Ocean Region in order to “garner political and economic sustainability (Lieutenant Commander Kulatungu, Sri Lankan Navy).” Hence, China’s ambition to dominate the region with its String of Pearls, or ports across the Indian Ocean. These ports also serve as embassy’s that grant loans and strengthen infrastructure around them, fostering financial leverage and international relations. All of these Pearls make an empire that gains support from the countries which they inhabit. China’s latest pearl is in Sri Lanka, close to China’s geopolitical enemy, India, a close ally of the United States.
In September of 2013 Chinese President Xi Jinping revealed his plans for the Belt and Road initiative, or the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st century Maritime Silk Road. This was similar to the old silk road in that in connected trading posts on land, or the “belt,” however, this plan was also designed to connect trading routes over the seas, or “road.” The Chinese envisioned strengthening infrastructure wherever ports were located by investing in the nations which hold these ports, however, the international investment and loaning program has faced backlash because it subjugates less stable and less wealthy countries into debt traps. In the last decade the Chinese have financed over 35 ports in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Its “belt,” or sea trading route, connects southeastern China to Indonesia which leads to the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, and to the eastern coast of Africa. This “Maritime Silk Road” continues up the eastern coast of Africa through the Red Sea and ultimately to the Mediterranean Sea. The Chinese government claims this “String of Pearls” is a “bid to enhance regional connectivity and embrace a brighter future.” The international community, however, sees this foreign policy agenda merely as a means for China to influence global affairs and dominate trade. China’s latest debt trap: Sri Lanka and its unsuccessful Hambantota port.
In 2012, the new Hambantota port in Sri Lanka was visited by 34 ships. Near one of the busiest straights in the world, tens of thousands of ships passed the trade route that consists of the Laccadive Sea. In 2005, Mr. Rajapaksa emerged as president shortly before the ending of Sir Lanka’s 25-year civil war. Mr. Rajapaksa and his three brothers came to account for 80% of the Sri Lankan government’s spending. The president called for a massive port to be built in Hambantota, his “sleepy home district”. The motivation for this seemed unclear at the time because Sri Lanka already had a port that was busy, successful, and had room to expand. A firm employed by the government claimed a second major was “not economically viable” for Sri Lanka. After failed attempts at securing funding from the Indian government, Mr. Rajapaksa looked further east. He was able to secure funding from the People’s Republic of China for the port, but with a catch. The interest rate on the 307-million-dollar loan from China would be 6.3% as opposed to a more standard 1-2% interest rate. In 2012 Mr. Rajapaksa received about 757 million more dollars for his ambitious 10-year port project. In securing these large loans, Sri Lanka had to give information the Chinese government on who is coming in and out of the port as well as hire their port building company. Mr. Rajapaksa continued taking out massive loans from China for years after, until in 2016 he owed China 5 billion dollars and could no longer afford to keep taking out loans to pay the interest fees on his older loans. To avoid outright default, the president struck a deal with the Chinese government to lease the port to a Chinese State-run business of Sir Lanka’s choice for 99 years. A major economic competitor of China’s, India asked Sri Lanka to include a clause explicitly outlawing military use of the port. In 2014, China had docked one of their submarines at Sri Lanka’s main port which China owns a portion of. The submarine visit occurred at the same time as the Japanese Prime Minister’s visit sending a message to India, Japan, and the West: China would dominate the Indian Ocean region and would not respect “Freedom of the Seas.”
Mr. Rajapaksa’s poor management of national finances, specifically the Hambantota port, caused him political strife that threatened his chances of reelection. If he was not reelected, the People’s Republic of China would not be able to continue taking financial advantage of the impoverished nation by tricking Mr. Rajapaksa into debt traps. Months before Sri Lanka’s 2015 presidential election, 7.6 million dollars was transferred from one of China’s state-run businesses, the China Harbor, to affiliates of Mr. Rajapaksa’s campaign team. Within ten days of the election, 3.7 million dollars were spent on campaign marketing. Luckily for Sri Lanka, Mr. Rajapaksa lost the election, but its enormous debt and unethical business partners still remain a problem to this day. On September 30th of 2018 while a United States Naval vessel was patrolling the south China sea, a Chinese Naval came to protest the United States’ claim that they were international waters. The vessels were aiming at another ready to fire but proved only to be a show of force. China’s influence in the Indian Ocean Region, as shown in Sir Lanka, has a negative effect on the global economy and could very well lead to China engaging in more conflict with either the Indian Navy or the United States Navy. Midshipman Agrusti, Midshipman Greenberg, and LT Granata of Villanova University’s NROTC unit agree that China’s influence in the Indian Ocean Region could be a cause for contention with the United States if China was not to respect the freedom of the seas. Should China violate international law the United States Navy would likely deploy their ships in areas like the Bay of Bengal or the Red Sea to assure freedom of the seas. In the event that more conflict develops with China in the South China Sea, the Navy would very likely continue to challenge them all over the globe.