By Michael Kugelman
On Wednesday, the Indian Navy commissioned a new base on Minicoy Island, which is part of the Lakshadweep archipelago, located off India’s southwestern coast and just 80 miles from the Maldives. The move suggests a desire to send a strong message to China, which has deepened ties with the Maldives since Mohamed Muizzu became president of the country in November 2023. The base, known as INS Jatayu, is also part of a bigger story about India’s increasing capacity to project naval power far beyond its shores.
Muizzu has called for closer relations with China while pushing back against India, ordering all Indian military personnel out of the Maldives by May 10. On Tuesday, Male signed a military aid deal with Beijing. Muizzu likely wants to establish more balance in the Maldives’ relations with both countries rather than formally ally with China. But India has reason to be anxious about deepening Chinese influence in a neighboring island state near crucial sea lanes in the heart of the Indian Ocean.
INS Jatayu will be the second Indian naval base on the archipelago, and it will bolster existing military resources in Lakshadweep, which include air strips and radar stations. India is also building resorts and infrastructure on Minicoy Island to boost tourism, signaling to the Maldives—which has an economy that relies heavily on tourism revenue—that it can push back on Male’s growing ties with Beijing through nonmilitary means as well.
But the new base is about much more than regional geopolitics. It is part of an ongoing effort to strengthen India’s capacity to secure its interests in areas spanning the Middle East and Indo-Pacific. The Indian Navy has long been on the forefront of its military modernization: As far back as 2009, naval leaders pledged to introduce 100 new warships within a decade. As New Delhi’s increasing global clout expands the geographic scope of its interests, it is keen to protect its assets abroad, as well as those of its partners.
India already boasts this capacity in the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. It is dispatching naval destroyers to protect its sea trade and to help distressed ships targeted by missile attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels and by acts of piracy in the Red Sea. But Indian naval experts say more must be done to strengthen power projection even further afield. Military development in Lakshadweep has so far lagged behind the resources invested in India’s island territories to the east.
The new base on Minicoy Island, coupled with the development of other military resources in the archipelago, gives India a data point to counter critics—including its own officials—who say it punches below its weight on the global stage. These assets enable it to serve as a net security provider in the Arabian Sea. The commission also comes as India has started sending arms to countries in Southeast Asia, including an expected Brahmos missile package to the Philippines.
India is working outside the alliance system to pursue security interests that also align with those of the United States and its partners, validating New Delhi’s long-standing policy of strategic autonomy. The benefits of INS Jatayu can be both operational and reputational: The base can help India address its geopolitical and security objectives, as well as enable it to project itself as a rising power that deploys its clout on its own terms.
Source : Foreign Policy