Enemy At The Gates: China Gets Aggressive In Arabian Sea Near Coast Of Gujarat, Mumbai

At the time when India has petitioned the United Nations (UN) to expand its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Arabian Sea near the coast of Gujarat and Mumbai to 500 nautical miles from the current boundary of 200 nautical miles, arch-rival China is getting aggressive (in the front courtyard) near the coast of Gujarat and Mumbai. 

India's maritime and defence experts are worried, since spotting hundreds of Chinese vessels has become a regular feature in the Arabian Sea closer to the coast of Gujarat and Mumbai, sources close to the Indian Navy told Businessworld. 

Going by China's reputation as a global bully, experts say that few of these vessels, which are supposedly fishing trawlers, are likely to double up as miniature spy ships that can gather any data from the location of submarines to secret pipelines and activities on the ports. Also, creating unnecessary conflict and trouble in the sea is increasingly becoming part of China's diplomacy and the presence of these vessels far from the Chinese territory is to bully India, experts say.

Businessworld also managed to get an exclusive picture of the location of the Chinese vessels just outside India's maritime boundary on December 3. These Chinese vessels, as seen in the picture, are so strategically placed that they have ensconced themselves just outside 200 nautical miles, where India's current EEZ ends. Yet, they are inside the 500 nautical miles EEZ boundary from the coast of Gujarat and Mumbai, over which India has staked its claim in the UN based on the new 6,000 pages of sedimentary and scientific evidence, the sources said.

China's game of global dominance and bullying
Maritime experts say China's activity in the Arabian Sea is a subset of its 'grey zone' activity in the South China Sea, where it first started with infrequent forays into the disputed waters and slowly built-up its presence to stake territorial claims and indulged in frequent fights with neighbouring countries with a view to bully and express its dominance.

Raymond Powell, former US Air Force official and distinguished fellow at Stanford University, a maritime expert who has tracked Chinese grey zone activity in the South China sea, is of the view that Chinese vessels in the Arabian Sea is the most concerning development for India.

"This is the most present 'grey zone' activity in the maritime space that directly affects India and Indian fishermen because they dominate the Arabian Sea. The ones (Chinese vessels) that I can see through my means are outside of India's economic zone but a large number of these ships are on the sanction list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury and watchlist of Greenpeace," Powel told BW in Mumbai on the sidelines of an event organised by Bramha Research Foundation, a strategic issues and national security think tank.

Powell is the Director of Project Sealight run by Stanford University’s Gordian National Security Innovation Centre and an expert on conflict in the South China Sea. He further stated that he has started seeing these Chinese vessels in the Arabian Sea closer to India's economic boundaries on a regular basis.

"China's distant water fishing fleet has received a lot of attention recently. Also because of its human rights abuses and the use of highly not sustainable methods and trolling the entire ocean floor just to throw out everything that you don't want. A large number of the ships in the Arabian Sea are known for illegal fishing and hence on the sanctions list," Powell said.

Powell further states that China has invested heavily in an armada of far-flung fishing vessels, in part to extend its global influence. "This maritime expansion has come at grave human cost," he said.

According to researchers, China's grey zone tactics—coercive actions that are shy of armed conflict but beyond normal diplomatic, economic, and other activities—are widely recognized as playing an increasingly important role in China's efforts to advance its domestic, economic, foreign policy, and security objectives, particularly in the Indo-Pacific. Yet, there is little consensus to date on which tactics pose the greatest challenges to the United States and its allies and partners in the region, a study by US researcher RAND Corporation said.

Experts say that to nullify India's claims over an extended territory, China is bound to argue that since they have been fishing in the waters for several years, they cannot be stopped from doing so suddenly. Another important point is that India's enemy Pakistan, which is close to Gujarat and Mumbai coast, will team-up with China to muddy the waters. Sea route distance between India's Porbandar port in Gujarat and Pakistan's Karachi port is just 281 nautical miles. Also, India and Pakistan are engaged in a dispute over Sir Creek (originally known as Ban Ganga), which flows into the Arabian Sea and separates India's Gujarat from Pakistan's Sindh province. 

Palak Shah

BW Reporters The writer is author of the book: The Market Mafia - Chronicle of India’s High-Tech Stock Market Scandal & The Cabal That Went Scot-Free. Palak has been a journalist in Mumbai for nearly two decades now. He has worked for most premier pink papers including The Economic Times, Business Standard and The Financial Express and The Hindu Business Line. He was drawn to crime reporting at the age of 19 but a few years in the field told him that the fabric of crime had changed and the organised gangs, as Mumbai had witnessed during the eighties, no longer existed. It was business and markets that dominated the scenario. His passion to unravel the intricacies of the ‘white money’ economy led Palak to the world of finance and regulations.