India to join African military exercises
On Saturday, India will begin joint military exercises with 10 African states off of the coast of Tanzania. This development represents a major step in India’s push to safeguard its economic interests and counter China’s influence in the Indian Ocean.
India is seeking to build anti-piracy capacity in the Indian Ocean — 80% of India’s oil imports traverse the Indian Ocean, and more than $250 billion of Indian exports also rely on safe access to the same maritime routes. Piracy, therefore, represents an immense concern for the country. In October 2022, India staged a trilateral anti-piracy drill with Tanzania and Mozambique. By comparison, the upcoming exercise will focus more on intelligence sharing and surveillance.
India’s other motivation for the drills concerns China’s growing dominance in East Africa. Amidst rising tensions between the two countries and China’s increasing naval presence off of the East African coast, India needs to increase its strategic leverage in the Indian Ocean. Experts have noted a large disparity in India’s naval capabilities compared to China: India therefore needs a strategy of denial that avoids direct provocation or confrontation with China’s forces. The upcoming naval drills will exploit East African countries’ mistrust of China, while also improving joint intelligence between India and its partners.
In the longer term, India may try to increase its intelligence capabilities in East Africa further. The Indian navy currently has radar stations in the Maldives, Mauritius, and Seychelles that allow India to monitor critical maritime routes. An additional radar station closer to the coast of East Africa would improve anti-piracy overwatch, but would also provide greater surveillance of Chinese vessels in the region — again, without provoking a confrontation with China directly.
