{"id":68707,"date":"2024-03-08T03:45:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-08T03:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/new-base-in-indian-ocean-shows-indias-obsession-of-supremacy-pakistan-observer\/"},"modified":"2024-03-08T03:45:02","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T03:45:02","slug":"new-base-in-indian-ocean-shows-indias-obsession-of-supremacy-pakistan-observer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/new-base-in-indian-ocean-shows-indias-obsession-of-supremacy-pakistan-observer\/","title":{"rendered":"New base in Indian Ocean shows India\u2019s obsession of supremacy &#8211; Pakistan Observer"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<tts-play-button data-id=\"2\" class=\"tts_play_button\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to Indian media reports, the Indian Navy is stepping up its presence in the Indian Ocean as it is set to open a new base on March 6 on \u201cstrategically important\u201d islands near the Maldives, from where New Delhi will start withdrawing its troops in the next four days.<\/p>\n<p>India has long viewed the Indian Ocean as its backyard. This hegemonic mentality is the basis on which India engages with smaller South Asian neighboring countries. Since last year, India had been told its troops \u201ccannot stay\u201d in the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Maldives, which shows the resentment of South Asian countries toward India\u2019s hegemonic mentality and its hypocritical \u201cNeighborhood First\u201d strategy.<\/p>\n<p>During these last few days, India was clearly hoping to exert pressure on the Maldives government to change its mind, Xie Chao, an associate professor at the Institute of International Studies, Fudan University, told the Global Times, adding that the new base India is going to set up can be seen as punishment to the Maldives, after it demanded that India withdraw its troops. However, it is also a means to check China\u2019s influence in the region.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis move is very typical of India, and expected,\u201d Xie said. The new base will augment India\u2019s \u201coperational surveillance\u201d of the region, according to a statement issued by the Indian Navy on Saturday. An Indian official, cited by Indian media outlet Economic Times, mentioned that the new base would \u201cgive India a strong foothold in the area to keep an eye on the military and commercial activities of adversaries in the area.\u201d Considering the importance of the Indian Ocean route for trade, particularly for China and other countries, India\u2019s actions indicate a confrontational approach aimed at asserting control over the region by leveraging its geographic advantages.<\/p>\n<p>Long Xingchun, a professor at the School of International Relations, Sichuan International Studies University and president of Chengdu Institute of World Affairs, believes that the new base is more of a political gesture rather than having real military significance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs India loses its foothold in the Maldives, it wants to send a message that it is still the regional hegemon,\u201d said Long.<\/p>\n<p>However, regional countries such as the Maldives have gradually realized the true nature of India\u2019s attitude. It\u2019s no wonder that during a book launch event in New Delhi on Saturday, India\u2019s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was asked whether India was being a \u201cbully\u201d in the subcontinent and the Indian Ocean region. His response was, \u201cBig bullies don\u2019t provide $4.5 billion in aid when neighboring countries are distressed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While the top Indian diplomat boasted about India\u2019s aid to its neighbors, what he tried to conceal was how India used the aid to tighten its control over them. Once these countries try to break free from India\u2019s influence, India will play the \u201caid\u201d card to affect their India policy. Amid the India-Maldives diplomatic row over the withdrawal of Indian troops, the Indian government has proposed a 22-percent reduction in aid to the Maldives for the 2024-25 financial year.<\/p>\n<p>Nepal experienced India\u2019s carrot-and-stick approach much earlier. In 2015, India provided significant assistance to Nepal after a deadly earthquake in the country. But in the same year, India reportedly imposed a blockade at a crucial crossing on the border with Nepal due to India\u2019s dissatisfaction with Nepal\u2019s passing of a new constitution and enhanced cooperation with China. This caused an economic and humanitarian crisis that severely affected Nepal and its economy.<\/p>\n<p>India\u2019s so-called aid to its neighbors does not alleviate, but rather exacerbates their sense of insecurity due to India\u2019s bullying and tightened control. The carrot-and-stick approach only serves to maintain India\u2019s supremacy in the region. As Xie noted, the current Indian government speaks positively about its \u201cNeighborhood First\u201d policy, but in reality, India has drifted further from its neighbors. As a result, India\u2019s neighbors are becoming more wary and distancing themselves from India\u2019s aggressive behavior and \u201cbig brother\u201d mentality.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><!-- AI CONTENT END 2 --><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 According to Indian media reports, the Indian Navy is stepping up its presence in the Indian Ocean as it is set to open a new base on March 6 on \u201cstrategically important\u201d islands near the Maldives, from where New Delhi will start withdrawing its troops in the next four days. India has long viewed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/pakobserver.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/unnamed.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-muzaffarabad-zila-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}