India is about to build it's second foreign military base in Seychelles

We recently heard about China building its first foreign naval base in Djibouti. Now this.

Apparantly Seychelles has allocated it's Assumption Island to India for it to build a Naval Base.

The Seychelles government has joined hands with India to build India's first naval base on the Assumption Island in the Indian Ocean region as a joint project between both countries. The island country has allocated a plot of land on the Assumption Island, which will help to enhance maritime security along India's west and south coast. This initiative has come following China's establishment of its first African naval base in Djibouti in November 2014.

The new naval base aims to put an end to piracy around the East African part of the Indian Ocean. Besides, India will also acquire a fully operational coastal radar system in Seychelles from March 2016.

Regarding the other foreign Indian military base. Its Farkhor Airforce Base.

Farkhor Air Base is a military air base located near the town of Farkhor in Tajikistan, 130 kilometres (81 mi) south east of the capital Dushanbe. It is operated by the Indian Air Forcein collaboration with the Tajikistan Air Force. Farkhor is India’s first military base outside its territory. Following Pakistan’s ban of Indian overflights, India started operating the Farkhor base in May 2002.

Farkhor Air Base : India’s first Foreign Air Base

India to get its first foreign Naval base , and second foreign Military base

India to form its first Naval Base in Seychelles to tighten vigil over Indian Ocean

If the USA can do it, why can't other countries?

As long as the construction of these bases are done in collaboration with the host countries, which by these accounts they are, there shouldn't be any problems.

Right on, at least India is getting permission and not just doing it because they feel that they have the right to put a base anywhere in the world that they damn well please.

a reply to: asen_y2k

In my opinion, this is an anti-piracy measure and will allow military assets to be better positioned to take out Somali pirates, The consequence being a more productive flow of commercial shipping in the region. It is costing vessel operators millions to reconfigure vessels and man them with security/military personnel just to transit through the area.

India has a massive maritime presence in the region.

originally posted by: daaskapital

As long as the construction of these bases are done in collaboration with the host countries, which by these accounts they are, there shouldn't be any problems.

I doubt these small islands have much say. You think Djibouti has much say when, everyone builds bases on their land.

Moreover have you seen the beauty of Assumption Island. Just google image search it. Soon it will turn into a bustling naval base. China too is destroying local life and coral reefs where they are building their islands. Its actually quite sad to see new powers rise and destroy whatever the earlier powers have not.

originally posted by: Sublimecraft
a reply to: asen_y2k

In my opinion, this is an anti-piracy measure and will allow military assets to be better positioned to take out Somali pirates, The consequence being a more productive flow of commercial shipping in the region. It is costing vessel operators millions to reconfigure vessels and man them with security/military personnel just to transit through the area.

India has a massive maritime presence in the region.

I doubt it will be only for piracy. All Oil Tanker traffic goes through that area.

I found this news on a defence forum and here is what they are adding to this:

There are Indian outposts in Madagascar, Oman, Seychelles, Maldives and Mauritius.

Addtionally the Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles and Sri Lanka will all have Indian coastal radar stations set up on their coasts and will be connected to the IN's Control Centre in Delhi.

a reply to: asen_y2k

A necessary move to counter Chinese belligerent expansionism in these region's, I dare say that the old powers are probably thoroughly approving of this move by India and India after all is the only power in the region that may actually give China a run for there money in the long run as the balance of power shift's to this region and also this is a necessary move on there part to tie relation's and form a coalition in that region to counter the Chinese and ensure there own vested interests in the future, this may seem a long way from the hot area of current contention but with Chinese naval power growing it really is not.

So it can be seen a canny move by India to protect there and there allies interests while also countering any future interest by China in that particular region as these two new superpowers carve that region up between them.

Remember the Chinese expansionism is actually harmful to the future of the other country's whom have vested interests in those international water's which China is currently illegally squatting in and claiming as there own and also what harm in the long run to the fisheries of the entire area and beyond does that wanton destruction of a priceless corral reef and fish breeding ground mean to the stability of food for those nation's in the area whom are reliant on the sea for a large percentage of there food supply's.

I am not saying India is being selfless in there own small scale expansion but even if they are not I hope they certainly ramp it up and make there presence felt more thoroughly in the region as it may be necessary to provide a regional counterweight and stabilise the situation.

a reply to: LABTECH767

I see most members beleive India to be a western ally. I have some doubts here. I have a feeling the west is being played here. India making them beleive that they are on their side against China. But secretly many talks are held between India and China. Later as both China and India becomes more powerful we may see them joining hands. Dont know for sure, its just a hunch.

yes Djibouti is like a foreign base wonderland lol. I see of no reason why more Naval assets in an area high in piracy is an issue. I respect India's progress in international force projection and welcome it in the fight against piracy and terrorism.
India IMO is much like Brazil. Although Britain still has major influence there, even more so than the US i believe, they are rather independent in their foreign and domestic policy initiatives.

After all, they have over a billion citizens to be concerned about. Other countries opinion may not factor.

I think people get a little out of control when the use the word base. The US naval base in Brazil, Russian Naval Base in Syria, Chinese/Japanese naval bases in Djibouti, and the Indian Base in Seychelles. They are not bases as in Pear Harbor, they are more a couple of docks and few buildings. They have some supply guys and paper pushers who arrange to have ships supplied either by stuff shipped in or from the local economy. These are more like supply depots. They have no ships assigned, they have a small number or personal and they have no defensive abilities and depend on the local gov for protection.

India of course is expanding to deal with China. However neither of their foreign naval "bases" will play a role in that. They are to small and the host nations would ask them to leave in time of conflict.

originally posted by: JHumm
Right on, at least India is getting permission and not just doing it because they feel that they have the right to put a base anywhere in the world that they damn well please.

Who has placed bases in countries over the objection of the host country's government?

a reply to: asen_y2k

Djibouti approved a US and now Chinese base. Considering China abs the US dont see eye to eye I would say Djibouti was the final say in the bases and wasn't trolled over by the US nor China.

a reply to: Sublimecraft

Is it true that maritime laws actually do allow for ships to carry weapons, but insurance costs keep most from doing so?

originally posted by: daaskapital
If the USA can do it, why can't other countries?

As long as the construction of these bases are done in collaboration with the host countries, which by these accounts they are, there shouldn't be any problems.

They can.

Problem is the same people who scream the US has no business anywhere else support or don't care about other countries doing it.

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04

originally posted by: daaskapital
If the USA can do it, why can't other countries?

As long as the construction of these bases are done in collaboration with the host countries, which by these accounts they are, there shouldn't be any problems.

They can.

Problem is the same people who scream the US has no business anywhere else support or don't care about other countries doing it.

Its not true, if you read my posts above you can see I am against countries building bases abroad.

Firstly, just look at Assumption Island where India will build its base. It has exotic plant and animal life untouched till now. All of it will be affected.

China has been busy building its island over coral reefs, hence destroying them and completely changing the surrounding flauna.

The world must protest against this.

a reply to: asen_y2k

You are correct, India is not a western ally and would happily side with China if it is in there own interests especially as the financial bond's to the west are weakening and the financial bond's to China are strengthening with current Chinese investment's in India though they also have ties to Pakistan as China was wanting to build a road and train tunnel through the mountains to provide themselves with easy access
to Pakistan's sea port's.

The situation in this region in general is not as stable as many would like to think and China is a fickle ally at best to these nation's with recent illegal entry and even the building of a military base in a Himalayan valley territory that is internationally recognized as falling under India's sovereign territory.

Historically the Chinese have a history of aggression after the second world war including the invasion and subsequent slow ethnic cleansing of Tibet and it's native people while they have funded cells in neighbouring Nepal and even Butan as well as northern India, they even tried there own attempt at taking over Vietnam but the Vietnamese sent them packing with a bloody nose on that occasion.

The Chinese provided there army to fight off the allied coalition whom were were trying to keep Korea as a single nation as well but back then China and Russia were close allies (something which broke up when Stalin thinking he was running China as well as Russia rubbed Mao - both as bad as one another - up the wrong way and it was China's turn at one point to send the soviet army running when they attempted and abortive invasion of China, that was an incident that was put down as a border dispute but was actually very much more serious with at least 4000 to 6000 thousand killed in action, it nearly escalated into a full blown war and tension's between these two former allies running very high, the time was also a time of international tensions.
en.wikipedia.org...

For a long time it was in the wests interests to keep both Pakistan and India on there side during the cold war and at that time it was also in these nation's interests to side with the western allies despite there own mutual animosity and border conflict's.

However with the end of the Cold War the western powers ceased to be afraid of the social hierarchy turning against them in there own nation's and a new age of greed was born, Job's vanished faster than you could count as greedy corporation's simply outsourced there production to these nation's (primarily China with Pakistan not being the nation to benefit though India did nearly as much as China), China was quick to see the potential as they control the majority of the rare earth minerals necessary for modern IC (micro chip's etc) production and so rubbed there hand's together behind the scenes as the west ran headlong like a lemming for a Greenland cliff to train up there people and build up china's industrial capacity (with hardly any effort from the Chinese state) while'st at the same time degrading the west's own wage based economy's and creating a new class divide of ultra wealthy and ultra poor in the now former first world.

The fault is both Corporate greed and often deliberate government mismanagement including downgrading our education standard's in the west.

In the UK this was sold to the public whom as any politician knows are easily bamboozled by lying right wings governments such as Thatchers regime, under her promise to restore the CLASS SYSTEM she removed government subsidies and relaxed import regulation making it more attractive to the investor's to produce there good's outside of the UK (this is just one nation and similar tactic's were elicited in other western nation's), her intent was to put the working class back into the gutter in order to fuel a new master - servant class system by driving the working class wages down and initially though she was stopped she intended to abolish the welfare state which her protégé Cameron is now doing and so reducing the working class (Poor majority's) financial independence from employers by removing both good pay, stable job's and the welfare safety net so promoting a capitalist system that favoured the ultra wealthy.

This shift in wealth from the majority to the minority in the western nation's has created the new economic status quo and an ensuing power shift with the current territorial instability being the inevitable outcome.

Oddly for the eastern socialists the blame for this is actually the Western Capitalist right wing whom are responsible for the downfall of our status after the cold war.

a reply to: LABTECH767

China and India are not going to become allies as they have to many diverging issues. First and foremost is the dispute about the border. Second is Kashmir (the Chinese controlled portion). 3rd is the China-Pakistan relationship. The south china sea claims...

a reply to: asen_y2k

Whether the spot chosen is a poor spot is a separate issue from is it ok for it to happen in general.

a reply to: Xcathdra

I will accept that but there is still massive investment in India and of course politician's can be bought, then again the mainly Hindu Indian patriot's have a very large grudge
as well as a strong belief in there own history and place in the world so China no matter how powerful it get's pushing them around will not be tolerated by them, sadly some of the more extreme Hindu nationalist are also extremely Xenophobic to all other cultures including those also in India but yes there have been a few near call's and the Chinese would be best warned to be more cautious as the Indian Army is an excellent fighting force with a long history and military tradition's passed onto them by the British but now made very much there own even if there equipment in many cases does need updating.

But as I said we live in a world were money talk's and china has the money at the moment, still India is not doing too badly itself in that department and recently they give me hope for the Indian soul as they have started to try to pull there poorest out of there poverty which of course can in the end only make India much, much stronger and it's people even more patriotic.

a reply to: asen_y2k

Seems to be an anti-piracy move, as much as anything.

I've no issue with this at all. They asked. ...and the Seychelles said OK. They're renting.

It's India's backyard, and they're countering China's moves in the area.

So far, I'm not seeing a whole lot of negative here.

As you say, I'm not completely sold on the idea of India being a Western ally, save of the moment. They're a rising power with ambitions for more. But at the moment? More good then bad. MHO, of course.