Seychelles Joins India In Top Secret Move to Not Offend China!

On 7 March, Shiv Shankar Menon, India's National Security Advisor, announced that the Indian Ocean island states of Seychelles and Mauritius had joined India's naval arrangement with Sri Lanka and the Maldives in a new Indian Ocean security grouping that some have called the 'IO-5'.
The new arrangement signals a significant consolidation of India's leading security role among the Indian Ocean islands. It is a manifestation of last year's announcement by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that henceforth India should be seen as a 'net security provider to the region.' While Mr Singh did not specify the boundaries of India's 'region' it was clear that much of the initial focus was on the Indian Ocean islands.
India has held joint naval exercises with Sri Lanka for some years and in 2012 this was expanded to trilateral exercises with the Maldives Coast Guard. Now the Seychelles and Mauritius have joined the three in a new maritime security grouping that will cover much of the central and western Indian Ocean. Menon also foreshadowed that in future the arrangement may be expanded to encompass the Bay of Bengal or that a similar arrangement may replicated with relevant Bay of Bengal states.
For decades India has been the de facto security guarantor of these island states. In the 1980s, India intervened or threatened intervention in Mauritius (1983), the Seychelles (1986), the Maldives (1988) and Sri Lanka (1987-1990) to prevent attempted coups or to address civil strife. India also played a significant, if largely undisclosed, role in ending the Sri Lankan civil war and the destruction of the Tamil Tigers in 2009.

Since the 1980s, India has slowly developed a role as a maritime security provider to these states. This has included provision of patrol boats, helicopters, training, senior military secondments and hydrographic services to the Sri Lankan, Maldives , Mauritius and Seychelles navies or coast guards. Over the last few years, India has also installed coastal radar networks in the Maldives, Mauritius and Seychelles. There have also been rumours of the possible development of an Indian security presence, in one form or another, in the Maldives and Mauritius.
The most immediate issues to be addressed by the new grouping will be the sharing of information and development of capabilities to combat maritime terrorism, piracy and illegal fishing. But these new arrangements are likely to have long term significance for India's security role throughout the Indian Ocean.
The new security initiative follows increasing concerns in New Delhi about China's growing presence in the region, most recently including the exercise conducted by three Chinese naval vessels in the eastern Indian Ocean in January.
The Chinese exercise was in stark contrast with India's Exercise Milan (pictured above), which was held in Port Blair in India's Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal only a few days later. This multilateral exercise included the navies and coastguards of some 16 states in addition to India. This year's event was the largest ever and was a truly Indo-Pacific affair, with representatives from South Asia (Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives), many Southeast Asian states (Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Cambodia and the Philippines), Australasia (Australia and New Zealand), and even a strong representation from the western Indian Ocean (Kenya, Mauritius, Seychelles and Tanzania). Exercise Milan is primarily an exercise in Indian naval diplomacy rather than an exercise for practising technical skills. Since its inception in 1995, the biennial exercise has focused on building relationships and confidence among senior naval officers of participating states.
Exercise Milan is foremost an expression of the expansion of India's area of strategic interest as it grows as a major power, and India's interest in fostering greater defence cooperation throughout the Indian Ocean region and beyond. Milan has now become an important and highly successful part of India's growing 'soft' military power. The breadth of participants in this year's Exercise Milan, extending from East Africa to the Western Pacific, is a major demonstration of India's growing Indo-Pacific reach. The contrast between India's cooperative engagement with the region and China's unilateral demonstrations could not be starker. Indeed, it is arguable that China's unilateralism may be more indicative of strategic vulnerability in the Indian Ocean than of its strength.
The new security partnership follows last month's announcement by India and Seychelles of a 'Blue Economy' partnership to tap the oceanic resources in the Seychelles' vast EEZ. This will rely in part on hydrographic survey work the Indian Navy has been carrying out in the Seychelles for years. Both the Seychelles and Mauritius have been pushing the 'Blue Economy' concept as a route to economic development. India may also enter into Blue Economy partnerships with Mauritius and the Maldives (both of which also have huge EEZs).
The new maritime security arrangement between the five Indian Ocean states represents a major step forward in the region's security architecture. For the first time India has explicitly taken a security leadership role in the Indian Ocean. In presaging the possible extension or replication of such arrangements to the Bay of Bengal, New Delhi has flagged a new and much more active security role in our region.
Image courtesy of the Indian Navy.
http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/2014/03/13/Indias-own-string-of-pearls-Sri-Lanka-Mauritius-Seychelles-and-Maldives.aspx?COLLCC=1455662184&

Comments

  1. Now they think they own Seychelles. And perhaps they do to, who knows? May we have been sold by PL Government, we will be the last one to know.

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  2. The Indain OCean should stay a Zone Free from foreign militarization attivities,Free from geoploitcal conflicts between CHina Nad India,and not a military training flield for Chinese or Indian thus imprting their centuries long conflicts into our EEZ and that of others.

    India as well as CHina disguise their real military ambition under the guise of fighting piracy,terorism etc.....and but the present of CHina Nad Indai naval actvities in the region posses a biggest threat than Piracy(literally radicted)Terorism not in our waters by straits of Eden.

    Indian Ocean should be a palce free from Nuclear and a palce of peace,and having Indain and Chinese importing and transporting their military interests in our region is a big threat for countrieson the region:a threat ot soveriegnty,peace,stability in the region.

    Morevero,Seychelles by siding on India side ,make us not Non-aligned country but partisan wth India and our country with its own interests and not being a colony of India should not play the game of any other countires to the deteriment of our own sovereignty.

    Making Nval exercise in our waters there is nothing to do with fighting priacy,Nalval exercises are aim of preapring for naval war or prerapring for naval wars not to fight piracy for you cannot fight piracy with Balistic missile that Chinese has been firing in our waters recently.

    Morevoer,Afircan countires have their own interests in the In dain Ocean ,even greater than India and Chinese ,they should be working otgether to protect their interests and sovereign countires and not let Indfia and Chinese fool them and make us beleive it is in AFRICAN interests having thme in our terriritories.

    INDIAN OCEAN long NEUTRALITY is best for countires in the region ,not by having Indain Nad Chinese naval presents.COuntires in the region can work together instead to safegaurd the region for they do have their own interests too .

    Seychelles as well as Afircan countires should not be part in the geopolitical fight and geopolitcal victims of The Chinese Dragon And Parched Tiger of India.Indian OCean should be nuetral and it was during the cold war ,It is best for the region and the stability,peace of this region.

    No to Indian or Chinese Nval exercise disguise as fighting priacy and other fights must stop---No transportation of Chinese .Indian rivalry in our Waters.Indian OCena must stay free ,Nuetral from foreign naval games,ercises,a peaceful zone,non milatralize etc....

    African countires should get together to defence African interests not Indian or Chinese.African interest is as important as that of both India and Chinese in the region.

    Military collaboration Yes---not naval exercises disguise as fight against piracy or what-so -ever.We donot fight piracywith Airplane carrier,misile firing exercises etc... PP these activities by Chinese and Idian navies should stop immeidately in our waters for it rape our teorritorial integrity and our sovereignty .

    Jeanne D?Arc







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  3. Seychelles territorial integrity is not for sell PP.Indian Ocean has a history of being a Non Militarize Zone and it should stay this way.

    PP has been trying to sell us Piracy(though already radicated),,though Michel simulated a pirate attack recent to fool Seychellois ,or even trying to sell us Terrorirsm (as if Teerirst bases are on Seychelles outter islands when it is in SOmali and operate between Somali and Yemen thus outaside our waters) just to find reasons to sell us the present on Chinese and Indain navies in our EEZ.

    The agggressive naval ativities of Chines Nad Indain in our EEZ is in fact a great threat for the countries' sovereignty in the region than any other fabricated threats by Pp and his allies.The risks of seeing Chines and Indain importing the rivalry dated back to the centuries being played in our EEZ with all the other consequences that it bring.

    Morevoer,our Territorial Waters should not be naval exercise ground for any foriegn navies---Pp recently illegally allow Chinese to rape our territotiral integrity by allowing Chinese to fire rockets of all sorts in our Waters disguise as fighting piracy.Pirates are in the Eden straits PP,CHines and Indian not in Seychelles waters anyone.How do you justify firing balistic rockets,and simulating naval manoeuvre has to do with fighintg pirates even if pirates were still there?--but they not.

    Michel and his Chines communist allies now have a new catchword to cover their real illegal naval activities in Seychelles^water it is called BLUE ECONOMY.Blue Economy for exprts is about exploiting one's Natural marine sesources in our case it is about our TUNA---To exploit our Blue Economy PP,We need to repalce the 51 plus foreign TUNA SEINEs which have been raping our natural resources for 4 decades and making themslves trillions of dollars on our back by Seychelllois own TUNA SEINERs so that we can benfit to the maximum from our resources.No persons with a healthy brain could see the relationship between BLUE ECONOMY and the present of foreign naval forces---unless COMMODORE MICHEL can prove the contary.

    Indian OCean was always a Non -Nuclear ,non-militarite and a zone of peace.This is how the Indain Ocean should stay.No Chines or Indian navies coming from Aisa,who have a past of friction between them ,should be allow to transport their rivalry into our territories and affect thereby countires' in the region own security,stability,soveriegnty and independency.

    In 1977 Indian Ocean was declared a Zone of Peace,Non nuclear etc.. it must not be the CHines hungry and arogance Dragon and the Paracha tiger of India.

    oTHER THREATS CREATS BY BOTH cHINA AND iNDIA IS THAT BOTH COUNTIRES WORK AND SUPPORT PARIAH STATES------States like Seychellles with a record of huaman rights abuses,corruption,slavery ,human traficking etc.....Those two countires put their own interests boefe anything and thus ready to support and sponsor rogue governemnt ,keep them in power regardless of their long record of atrcoties on their people just to ensure that their own interests are secure.Of course both China and India prefer the actual Statue qou exist in Seychelles namely the one-aprty dictatorship for since a Dictator nneds constant support to survive ,they(Chian and Indai)could be sure that their ambitions,objectives etc.. could be met by working or having a rogue regime in palce that allow them to rape at will our teorritories than a DEMOCRATIC SYSTEm which would be more willing to protect its torritorial integirity,sovereignty,indepedence,etc ..than a weak,rogue ,hungry,wicked ,achaic system to that of pp Dictatorship.We have seen them sponsoring Mugabe,BASHAR of SUDAN,and other rogue regimes just for the own interests then Indain come and tell us INDIA IS A FRIEND OF SEYCHELLES--it seem a firend of Seychelles not Seychellois ,a firend of the rogue system thus dictatorship but not democracy that Indain advertise themslves for.Democracy is good for India not Seychellois.

    Jeanne D'Arc






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  4. Seychelles territories must in anyway be used as the chessbarod between the geopolitcal fight between the Indain Tiger and Chines Dragon.The strategy to control the Indain Ocean by both China and Indai,posses high threat to the region security,stability and all countries (especailly countries like Seychelles,Mauritius,Commoroes should avoid playing the war game of the two rivals and allow them to transport the rivalry into our territories .Their disputes or hungriness to have control on others territorties for their National Interests jeopardize others interests and other unprecedented long-term challenges to the region.

    China,for instance,has been having various disputes some justified but most contradictory with various maritime neighbours :China historical recrods shows that the Dragon neo-colonial mental ,could push them even to annex other countires like it has been the case of Tibet or actual attempt by Chinese to disposse Japan from an Isalnd becuase it is beleived there is large amount of oil reserves there.

    In a words.what our nation should care about is not the aggressiveness of Chine/India geopolitcal selfishness to control the region of the Indian OCean that belongs to all country states in the region ,but ensure that our country interest in put before foreign nation interests.We must tell the China and Indain "Though,you might have your own geopolitcal interest in the region,we will not let you rape out EEZ to fulfill your ambition by the detriment f our territorila integrity and regardless of your geopolitcal ambitions you not going to rape our soveriegnty and we will not be a pone in the chess game of superpower who just want to abuse others maritime integrity to achieve their own geopolitcal interests.

    Michel wanted to be seen as an Interantional Star------here is a change for him to become one-------By using our strategic and geopolitcal postion to be a mediator of importance to cool down those two rivals.get both the itgier and the dragon lie down together,instead of increasing their rivalry and extend it to others territories,which would be much better for both side.Tell them FiledMArshal Michel,that Seychelles is going to use its strategic postion to bring them to talk rather then attempting to increase nuclear capacity that in the end if used no one would win.Tell them that little Seychelles is going to show other world power worried by the miliatry aggressiviety by India and China in the Indain Ocean,that Little Seychelles ,with the long tradition of keeping peace,stability and keeping Indian OCean a non nuclear zone,to ensure that Seychelles would do everyhing to put a stop at this risky milit<ry deploiment taking palce in our region and would by our ono-alignment policy Seyhelles would put a stop or at least reduce the military pressure being put in the region by not /orv refusing any of those two Countires to use its EEZ fro any kinds of military,naval operation regardless what.

    Jeanne D'Arc

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  5. Seychelles is in fact,the only country that holds the power due to tis geographical position in east Afrcia that can regualte,control ,detter the agressive military activities of thetwo Aisen countires in the East Africa region and that more effectively than any other countires including USA,NATO etc...

    By regualting,control what happen ,hen it happen ,who could use or not use our EEZ,the sieize,numbers, and types of foreign naval ships presnet in our Teerirotires we little Seychelles could be the regulator of the risks posses by the present of Indai and CHina in the east Indian OCean region and avoid that the two Asien power transport their long rivalry into our region,thus create tension,pt the regoion own interests, security at risks etc...

    Seychelles should use this opportunity to become an important player in the region when it comes to controling ofreign naval deploitment in the region,Our EEZ is so placed,and important for shipsto transit that one body can avoid it.Thus,a soveriegny country we can set the conditions on how foreign navies could and should use our territories-----for instance,For transti to oanther third country,non nuclear porpel ships etc... amount on ship not exceeding X numbers.no foreign naval training in our EEZ,etc... How we monitor them,to ensure they respect the conditions-Well.they would monitor thmeselves,For instance,Indai would monitor always CHinese naval deploitment and vice versa for both want to ensure that none is disadvantage or advantage..and would watch each others deploitment to ensure the balance.Any breach by one country ,Seychelles governemnt the only legitimate authority that could sanctioned or authorize,justified a case would be automatically inform.Alos NATO who do not like the naval activities of China would help the monitoring for by help Seychelles regualting ite EEZ ,it Help indirectly NATO,USA of deterring CHina and India growing influence in the region.Thus ,they too would monitor and inform us of any breaches by a part or ther other.


    Jeanne D?Arc


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  6. CRIMEANS!95%voters join le rouge but Crimeans population are 25% TATARS community,were you get 95%voters same like this communist sytem in SEYCHELLES.

    Now to all Seychelles politician I think seen years Seychellios abroad are asking their right to vote till now all party have gone quite on this issue.Are you waiting for the last last moment in 2016 like always to go back on this issue.

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  7. For Seychellios oversea to have their right to vote a letter must be write to commonwealth.

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  8. YES!25% TATARS BOYCOTT the vote!

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  9. PP is asking what is the role of PARLAMENT?Incredible--that they sit in an ASEMBLY but ignrant of their role in regards to protecting Human rights.

    In fact,Seychelles as COmmonwealth countires should know it a long time ago for it is not new.For all Commonwealth countires are bound by Human rights obligations where the come from National or International law.

    What are those under educated then doing in the ASSEMBLY when they donot know their role as PArlamentary?Just to pocket an astron0mic salary and a pension for life.a good way not to work and rob Taxpayers money.Huamn rights PP are rights inherient to all Human beings,it is not something you need to discuss ,it is exist since the Humanity exist.It is universal and inalienable PP monkeys.

    Seychellois don ot want to hear speeches and phot shots of Pp crooks ,preaching about Human rights but actions---by respecting the Constituion that entails all the rights Seychellois should enjo just put it in practice PP.

    Finally,When yxou donot even know what your duty as Parlamentary ,what the hell you doning in the Assembly donkeys?Would be more productive if you go do a job of your intellectual capaicy namely gardeners,Bus drivers etc.. then we could reduce Expat workers drastically.TOO many under educated who shold be doing the menial jobs how done by Expats are in the Assembly,as ministers,Districts mayors etc....we must ensure Seychellois is place in the right job and that according to their qualification and experience not becuase they Pp members,followers,and idiots.

    Jeanne D'Arc

    jeanne D'Arc

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  10. For Seychellois tabroad to vote we need to force Pp to give our citizens,all citizens the legitimate right to vote.It is common right.All citizens are equal under the law,to both abide by the laws and to benefit equally under the law ,without discrimination.One is not defined as a citizen of a country be the place s/he leaves but by his birthright,his/her Nationality,Not giving Seychellois aborad their legitmate right to vote is a Human rights voilation just like police brutality,dictatorship,dispposeion of citizne from their patrimony etc..etc..e.tc

    I think SFP has been active exposing all those voilations,and by now it should be cvommonplace among Seychellois,which was last month confirmed by UN report.

    Jeanne D'Arc

    Jeanne D'Arc

    Jeanne D'Arc

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