China’s ‘string of pearls’ strategy raises security concerns for India

Guwahati, July 9: China’s ‘string of pearls’ strategy may pose serious security concerns for India in the days to come. The strategy is China’s strategic initiative to develop a network of military and commercial facilities in the Indian Ocean region.

Official sources told The Assam Tribune that China has been desperately trying to increase its foothold around India. In recent times, the caretaker Government in Bangladesh has been trying to come closer to China. There will be no problem if China helps Bangladesh in creating infrastructure projects, but it will be a matter of serious concern if Chinese army or navy come to the ports in Bangladesh, sources admitted.

Sources also expressed the view that China would never seal a major deal with a Government in transition as the situation in Bangladesh may change after a democratically elected Government takes over power. Moreover, the chief of the caretaker Government, Md Yunus cannot go close to China beyond a certain point. “Yunus is known to be close to the US. The main adviser of Yunus is also an American citizen. He was born in Bangladesh but later shifted to the US. Under the circumstances, Yunus would not antagonize the US,” sources added.

Sources pointed out that all people of Bangladesh are not radicals and after a democratic Government is installed in Bangladesh, it has to maintain cordial relations with India. It is a fact that the radical forces are getting stronger under the caretaker Government in Bangladesh, but an elected Government would have to maintain cordial relations with India for the development of that country, sources added. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has already made efforts to come close to India. It may be mentioned here that Bangladesh elections are scheduled for February.

Sources admitted that China managed to establish strong footprints in Myanmar because of India’s mistakes for years. India did not make efforts to maintain cordial relations with Myanmar for years, but the situation is now changing and India now has very cordial relations with that country.

However, in the case of Pakistan, the situation is different as China has a strong hold over Pakistan.

In the case of Sri Lanka, the country was closer to China than India. But after India bailed out Sri Lanka from a major financial crisis, now the country has very good relations with India.

“Though China is desperate to implement the string of pearls strategy, it will not be very easy for the country to do so,” sources asserted.