* An interesting article in the Znet repertoire, and apparently originally published in yesterday's Japan Times, on the expansion of the Indian Navy into the Indian Ocean, especially towards the Malacca Straits. The Malacca Straits are a slim passageway of sea that links the South China Sea with the Indian Ocean with Southern Malaysia on one side and Western indonesia on the other. The area is rife with pirates of all shapes and sizes which almost appear and disappear due to the narrow width of the straits. It has been on the radar screen for most South-East and North-East Asian countries as it transports most of the oil and other goods to their ports from the Middle East and beyond through these lanes.
* The article looks at the increasing Chinese naval projection in the area via Myanmar and the US geostrategic balancing act allowing the Indians to muscle in more forcefully than before to keep the Chinese expansion at bay (or balanced, depending on your view of the Chinese military).
* Preparing for a Japan Foreign Ministry essay contest on future energy policy for Japan back in 2001, the news of Chinese Navy projection efforts into the South China Sea both South (towards SE Asia) and East (towards the Phillipines) out of its Hainan bases was already doing the rounds. Japan was not too happy about this projection as it could see the potential of being cut off from its sea routes, and I was concerned with the diplomacy of the South China Sea (which has been managed in something akin to the Peace of Westphalia), so I didn't look any further. But I remember going through reports regarding forward positions and bases in the Indian Ocean by the Chinese navy, that could have compromised Japan's food/energy security which it depends on for the survival of its society.
* So this is not breaking news as such, just a slow readjustment of pawns in the Indian Ocean game of Risk, which the US manages from the militarised British-leased Diego Garcia/Chagos archipelago.
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