Word: oceans
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...real arena for future confrontation, say most Indian strategists, lies not in standoffs on remote, rugged peaks but in the waters all around the Indian subcontinent. The Indian Ocean is the thoroughfare for nearly half of all global seaborne trade, and the coastal states are home to over 60% of the world's oil and a third of its gas reserves. Traditionally, India has imagined the ocean as part of its backyard without investing serious resources in its navy - much more goes to an army and air force that are perched by the land boundaries with the old enemy...
...safeguard its vast appetite for oil and other natural resources, particularly those drawn from Africa, China has embarked upon a "string of pearls" strategy, building ports and listening posts around the Indian Ocean rim. Beijing's projects span from the Malacca Straits to the Cape of Good Hope and many places in between, including countries that were once in India's sphere of influence. A massive deep-sea port being built by Chinese funds and labor at Hambantota, at the southern tip of Sri Lanka, has in particular riled Indian analysts. With a $1 billion facility also under construction...
...country's first nuclear submarine in July and purchased new destroyers from Russia and the U.S. Still, China's plans to build aircraft carriers and boost its own submarine fleet far outstrip that of New Delhi. India has expanded defense contacts and exchanges with a host of strategic Indian Ocean countries and archipelago nations such as Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and the Maldives as well as engaged in naval exercises with other East Asian and Southeast Asian nations that are wary of China's growing stature, such as Japan and Vietnam. But China also maintains solid relationships with many of these...
...rising powers to extend their reach and rub up against each other. China and India, says C. Uday Bhaskar, director of the National Maritime Foundation, a think tank attached to the Indian navy, need to "evolve some kind of modus vivendi as they establish themselves in the Indian Ocean." But few can divine what that may look like. Part of the problem is that despite booming trade between India and China, there is little political understanding between their governments. "They engage very superficially," says Pant. "There's rarely consensus on any of the fundamental issues." Comparisons have even been made...
...boat - referred to in the Australian press as "boat people" - are still shuttled off to a remote island while their papers are processed. There are currently about 600 asylum seekers staying at the $350 million facility built for the purpose on the Australian-owned Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, most of whom have come from conflict or post-conflict zones like Sri Lanka, Iraq and Afghanistan. Current policy, however, mandates that their applications be processed within a 90-day period, and those who are granted asylum can apply for permanent humanitarian visas - not the temporary visas that Howard...