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Are China and Russia teaming up on the US in the Indian Ocean?

  • Naval exercises and other moves by the two countries in the region suggest they are teaming up to counter the US, India and others
  • But some analysts view the partnership as merely ‘symbolic’, with Beijing and Moscow trying to extend their individual spheres of influence

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The joint Russia-China naval exercises in the Indian Ocean region could portend a shifting geopolitical dynamic there. Illustration: SCMP
Recent commentaries suggesting that Russia and China are teaming up for a power play in the Indian Ocean have drawn mixed reactions from regional analysts, with some suggesting that Moscow and Beijing are keen to flex their muscles beyond their own shores in a bid to counter US moves in the region while others have pointed out that most forms of cooperation between the two countries are merely symbolic in nature.

Last month, Oriana Skylar Mastro, a centre fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, wrote that Russia-China cooperation in the Indian Ocean would present a much greater threat to a continued US role and influence in the region than either would individually.

Mastro pointed to two recent naval exercises held between Russia and China – the first in conjunction with South Africa in November 2019 off Cape Town and the second the following month with Iran in the Gulf of Oman – as evidence of the two countries’ sharpened focus on the Indian Ocean region.

In addition, Russia in November approved a draft agreement to establish a naval base in Port Sudan, on Sudan’s Red Sea coast, which offers a direct outlet to the Indian Ocean. The Russian news agency TASS reported that the facility would be used to carry out ship repairs, replenish supplies and as a resting spot for Russian navy personnel – in addition to being defensive in nature and aimed at maintaining peace and stability in the region.

As for China, it opened its first overseas naval base in Djibouti in 2017, and its navy is said to have increased operations in the Indian Ocean region over the past three decades.

Writing in The Interpreter, published by The Lowy Institute, an independent think tank in Australia, Mastro said that even though the coronavirus pandemic might have slowed further military engagements between Russia and China, the exercises signalled Moscow’s and Beijing’s desire to cooperate in the region.

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Russia kicks off Kavkaz 2020 military exercises with China, Iran, Belarus and others

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“More importantly, they reveal that regional powers such as South Africa and Iran, as well as other countries, welcome the increased role of China and Russia,” said Mastro, who is also a foreign and defence policy fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.
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