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On August 3, Al Jazeera Publish Extensive investigation of the development of military installations on the island of North Agalega, which is part of the island nation of Mauritius. It revealed that Indian workers are laying the foundation for the Indian Navy’s military facilities.
Although the governments of Mauritius and India deny this, documents and witness statements obtained by Al Jazeera show that various infrastructures are used for military activities, especially surveillance.
India claims that these new facilities are part of the Safety and Growth (SAGAR) policy for everyone in the region, which aims to strengthen maritime cooperation between countries in the region. In the case of Mauritius, it has stated that its coast guard personnel will use the new facilities.
However, it is clear that India’s investment of 250 million US dollars to develop an airport, port and communications hub on this remote island is not to help Mauritius develop its territorial water security capabilities.
North Agalega Island and South Agalega Island at home There are about 300 Creole Agalenians located in the strategic southwestern part of the Indian Ocean. This area is currently a blind spot for the Indian Navy, and New Delhi hopes to expand its maritime awareness by building military facilities in it.
The most important new infrastructure on the atoll is a 3,000-meter-long runway and a considerable number of aircraft aprons. There are also considerable deep-water dock facilities under construction, as well as barracks and fields for military personnel.
The Agalega’s outpost will help support the operations of India’s Boeing P-8I maritime reconnaissance aircraft fleet. The American-made P-8 is based on the Boeing 737 passenger plane and is a cutting-edge maritime patrol aircraft that performs anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions.
Although these aircraft have anti-ship and submarine strike capabilities, their effectiveness in peacetime stems from the sophisticated sensors, command and control systems, radars, and intelligence collection equipment used in daily missions.
The vastness of the Indian Ocean means that P-8 and other maritime reconnaissance aircraft need to set up airports and refueling facilities at the transfer station, and the facilities on the North Agalega Island are where these facilities enter.
Agalega is not the only island in the Indian Ocean that has been converted into a P-8. For example, military installations in the Indian Andaman and Nicobar Islands at the junction of the northeastern Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea have also been strengthened to better support Indian patrol aircraft missions.
In peacetime, effective maritime awareness helps to establish international partnerships with like-minded militaries, and by sending signals to reach and intend to safeguard the interests of selected regions, it acts as a deterrent to state and non-state opponents. By better understanding existing and upcoming maritime threats, governments can better plan and respond.
In times of conflict, knowing the location of enemy ships and submarines without being discovered can have a significant advantage.
Although India may publicly justify its efforts and costs to establish maritime awareness in the Indian Ocean by combating piracy, developing search and rescue capabilities and even providing capacity-building assistance to small countries, the Chinese Navy’s entry into the region is its real motivation to expand its naval presence. .
The Indian Ocean is now increasingly controversial. Despite having the Diego Garcia base, the United States no longer enjoys a dominant position in this increasingly multipolar region-in this region, no country has hegemonic influence.
In recent years, China has increased its naval deployment in the Indian Ocean and developed what some analysts call the “chain of pearls”—a network of military and commercial facilities along the Indian Ocean, effectively encircling India—and even established its first The overseas naval base is in Djibouti.
In view of China’s recent deployment in the Indian Ocean, its massive military modernization program, its recent actions on the India-China Himalayan border, and its compulsory governance strategy demonstrated on the international stage, India is logically eager to curb the presence of the Chinese navy in the Indian Ocean.
Therefore, in cooperation with the United States, Australia and even France, India is working hard to monitor the Indian Ocean to directly deter and restrict China’s ability to move in the region.
As economically vital routes pass through the Mozambique Strait and around southern Africa, and China also uses them for energy imports, the southwestern part of the ocean is of particular increasing strategic importance.
In this sense, Agalega’s facilities will enable India to pay close attention to this part of the ocean and will constitute a key transit point for India’s maritime awareness network. This is important because it will allow India to see the sky in the southwestern Indian Ocean, and Delhi’s policymakers hope that this will curb Chinese aggression.
Time will tell how India will use these facilities to be built on Agalega later this year. The governments of India and Mauritius still strictly control the details of the project.
Whether or not China is intimidated by India’s surveillance efforts, Agalega is now a pawn in the Indian Ocean and the wider Indo-Pacific region to compete in the new era.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
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