Need for a US Indian Ocean Strategy

 Foreign Affairs published on 7 April 2025 a commentary titled "America Needs a Real Indian Ocean Strategy" by Arzan Tarapore, Stanford University.  

Chinese submarine activity will soon surpass India's ability to counter it in the Indian Ocean and India is ill equipped to offset China's growing naval presence.  India's contributions to regional security are significant, but they will be dwarfed by what it will take to counter China's increasing naval capacity.

The author calls on the United States to craft a comprehensive strategy for the Indian Ocean because within a decade an expanding Chinese naval presence will be able to imperil global shipping lanes, extract more resources from countries in the region, and project force far beyond its current ability.  The focus of this US strategy should be building collective military power.     

India Ramps Up Naval Activity in Response to China

 The Associated Press published on 1 February 2024 an article titled "India Begins to Flex Its Naval Power as Competition with China Grows" by Aljaz Hussain.  

India is sending a message that the Indian Ocean is its backyard and signaling China that it plans to assume wider naval responsibility in the region, including the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.  

Egypt and Saudi Arabia: Strait of Tiran and Bab el-Mandeb

The Middle East Institute (MEI) published on 10 January 2017 a brief update titled "Saudi Interest in the Red Sea Islands of Tiran and Sanafir Grows as Its Security Interests Expand" by Geoffrey Aronson, scholar at MEI.

The article deals with the expected transfer of the Egyptian islands of Tiran and Sanafir, which protect the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba, to Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia's goal to establish a military base at Djibouti, which overlooks Bab el-Mandeb, the southern entrance to the Red Sea. These moves constitute an extension of Saudi naval power in the Red Sea region, perhaps at the expense of Egypt.

China's Growing Security Relationship with Africa

These are remarks titled "China's Growing Security Relationship with Africa" that I delivered to the African Studies Program at Michigan State University in East Lansing on 28 January 2016.  They cover arms transfers, protection of Chinese nationals, the non-interference principle, UN peacekeeping, anti-piracy in the Gulf of Aden, PLAN expansion in the Indian Ocean, and future trends. 

China's Growing Security Ties with Africa

The War is Boring blog published a commentary on 22 January 2016 titled "China Is getting Ready to Surge Troops into Africa" by Peter Dorrie.  The author evaluates China's growing security interests in Africa. 

Emerging Power Strategies for the Indian Ocean

The South African Institute for International Affairs published in June 2015 a study titled "Silk, Cinnamon and Cotton: Emerging Power Strategies for the Indian Ocean and the Implications for Africa" by Chris Alden and Elizabeth Sidiropoulos.

The authors analyze the interests of China, India, Indonesia, and South Africa in the Indian Ocean and offer recommendations for South Africa and the rest of Africa.

With Eye on China, India Expands Naval Influence in Indian Ocean

World Politics Review published on 31 March 2014 an analysis titled "With Eye on China, India Moves to Expand Indian Ocean Maritime Influence" by Saurav Jha, a researcher on global energy issues and clean energy development in Asia.

He reported that India has invited Mauritius and the Seychelles to join a trilateral maritime security cooperation arrangement that now includes India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives known as the IO-3.  Should Mauritius and the Seychelles join, it would become the IO-5.  This is an effort by India to take the lead in an Indian Ocean maritime security network as China increases its naval activity in the region, including reports of the first-ever patrol in the eastern Indian Ocean of PLAN Shang-class nuclear attack submarines.