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Mahesh

29/11/22 06:43 AM IST

China Holds First China-Indian Ocean Region Forum Without India

In News 
  • China organized the first high-level China-Indian Ocean Region Forum on Development Cooperation, with 19 countries from the region except for India.
About the meeting 
  • Theme: Shared Development: Theory and Practice from the Perspective of the Blue Economy.
  • Participating Countries- Indonesia, Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Afghanistan, Iran, Oman, South Africa, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Seychelles, Madagascar, Mauritius, Djibouti, Australia and representatives of 3 international organisations were present.
  • India was reportedly not invited.
  • China proposed to establish a marine disaster prevention and mitigation cooperation mechanism between China and countries in the Indian Ocean region.
  • China expressed its willingness to provide necessary financial, material, and technical support to countries in need.
Issues 
  • China has often been accused of engaging in “debt diplomacy” in these countries under its Belt and Road Initiative allegedly in the name of infrastructure development.
  • Since 2008, China has regularly deployed a contingent of naval warships in the Gulf of Aden and established its first foreign military base in Djibouti in 2017.
  • At the same time India's absence is seen as an attempt to challenge India’s traditional presence in the region amid apprehensions of politicization of the Indian Ocean region. Moreover, the Chinese Foreign Ministry refused to disclose who the participants were from other countries.
  • India has been a traditional partner and supporter of Indian Ocean Region (IOR) countries.
About IORA 
  • It was established in 1997 and is a regional forum that seeks to build and expand understanding and mutually beneficial cooperation through a consensus-based, evolutionary and non-intrusive approach.
  • IORA has 23 member states and 9 Dialogue Partners.
  • Members: Australia, Bangladesh, the Comoros, France, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
  • China is a dialogue partner in the IORA.
  • The IORA Secretariat is based in Mauritius.
Source- The Hindu 

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