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China, India and the Indian Ocean power play
Both have an interest in the waterway. Can both coexist? The question is important as US-China competition intensifies.
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China’s research and survey vessel Yuan Wang 5 arriving at Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port earlier this week. On Indian media reports about the Yuan Wang 5 being a “spy ship”, Beijing’s Foreign Ministry said the vessel was conducting scientific research “in accordance with international law”.
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Zhou Bo
Follow topic:
Is the Indian Ocean India's ocean? However absurd this question might seem, the answer is probably yes if you talk to Hindu nationalists who believe in Akhand Bharat ("undivided India").
According to this concept, not only is the Indian Ocean Hind Mahasagar (an ocean of the Hindus), but the geographic expanse of the ancient Bharat extended as far as modern-day Afghanistan, Myanmar, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
