China cultivates ties with India's neighbors in containment strategy

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China cultivates ties with India's neighbors in containment strategy

China is a country obsessed with the idea that it has been "contained" by an insidious United States through a system of alliance with China's neighboring nations. But it seems that China is doing a "containment" scheme of its own to encircle its arch nemesis in the region, India.

India is feeling unmistakable pressure as Beijing vigorously courts most of New Delhi's major neighbors, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, the Maldives and Sri Lanka, for a strategic alliance to counter what Beijing calls "Indian regional hegemony."

But what has spooked the Indian security establishment more is China's space and satellite projects with India's neighboring countries.

A Pakistan national flag flies alongside a Chinese national flag in front of the portrait of Mao Zedong at Beijing's Tiananmen Square during Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani's visit on May 18, 2011.   Reuters/David Gray

"A string of satellite deals China has struck with Sri Lanka, potential space-related partnerships in Maldives and Bangladesh and their security implications have raised concern in New Delhi," said the Indian newspaper The Economic Times.

These satellite deals have added "a new dimension to fears among [India's] intelligence agencies that eastern neighbor was encircling India strategically with large communications networks."

Pakistan, the arch enemy of India for decades, has become China's staunchest strategic ally on international stage. More than half of China's weapons exports go to Pakistani military.

China and Pakistan have large joint projects including the combat aircraft known as the Xiaolong F-7 Fighter jet. And the Chinese have given Islamabad a wide scope of weapons ranging from missiles, naval warships, to tanks and rockets.

In return, Pakistan supports every major international initiative sponsored by Beijing. Pakistan also lets China operate and control the strategic port of Gwadar that was financed and built by the Chinese.

Sri Lanka, a long time satellite nation of India, has also been vigorously courted by China in recent years.

China now controls Sri Lanka's key deep-water port located on the main sea line of communication connecting the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

China is in large part bankrolling Sri Lanka's military construction projects, and Sri Lanka is not shy about expressing its willingness to deviate from India's orbit and the deeply-rooted Indian influence.

Bangladesh, a traditional good neighbor with India, whose independence in the 1970s received much help from the Indian government, is now also receiving significant Chinese economic and military aid. And Beijing is eager to exploit the recent immigration row between India and Bangladesh.

Another key neighbor of India is Burma (Myanmar). China has been pouring money into the impoverished country in order to curry favor for a formal alliance against not only India but also the West. Two months from now, a long oil and gas pipeline across Burma, meandering into the Chinese hinterland, will be completed. That project is entirely financed by the Chinese.

The just completed Chinese National People's Congress in Beijing even created a senior diplomatic position at the State Council specifically devoted to works related to Burma, the only nation in the world that receives such special attention in Beijing.

China's major method to curry influence is through arms deals with all India's neighbors.

According to a newly published survey by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute [SIPRI] on the world's leading arms exporting nations, China has replaced Great Britain as the fifth-largest arms exporter.

Of the leading nations that have received Chinese arms, Pakistan takes a lion's share [55 percent], followed by Myanmar [8 percent], Bangladesh [7 percent], Venezuela [5 percent] and Iran [4 percent].