China at sea (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2 : International Relations
Prelims level : Shiyan 1
Mains level : India’s foreign policy

Context:

• Indian Navy “chased out” a Chinese vessel — Shiyan 1— from the Andaman Sea should draw Delhi’s attention to Beijing’s growing maritime scientific capabilities and its ambitious research agenda for distant waters.
• Shiyan 1 is operated by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and is part of Beijing’s growing marine research fleet that now stands at about 50 vessels.

Move taken by Beijing:

• Beijing’s expansive investment in marine scientific research is very much part of its rise as a great maritime power and dovetails into its regional strategies.
• After leveraging marine science diplomacy to good effect in the South China Sea over the last many years, China has begun to extend it to the Indian Ocean.
• Last year, Shiyan-3 invited Pakistan scientists to join a research expedition in the Arabian Sea. Delhi must expect to see more of this in the Indian Ocean littoral.
• But, Beijing insisted that Shiyan 1, “did not conduct any operations in the Indian EEZ (exclusive economic zone) during the whole process, and only sailed through the Indian EEZ on the way to and from the experimental area”.
• The foreign office in Beijing added that throughout the ship’s voyage, the Indian navy aircraft followed it with warnings and its crew also replied in accordance with international practice.

Significance behind the move:

• The issue is not a technical one about the provisions of the law of the sea.
• It is about China’s growing maritime scientific ambition.
• The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) favours freedom of marine scientific research. \
• It also lets coastal states decide on granting permission for marine scientific research by other entities in their exclusive economic zones.\

Objectives for the national science fleet:

• To map the sea-bed resources of the world’s oceans. China has internationally sanctioned licences to explore sea-bed mining in a few areas including in the South-western Indian Ocean.
• To develop large ocean databases that facilitate Chinese naval operations by providing accurate maritime domain awareness.
• To use its national fleet for science diplomacy that adds to the Chinese toolkit of building productive maritime and naval cooperation with coastal states across the world.
• It also lets China set the rules for global marine scientific research.
• All major naval powers through history have sought to leverage marine scientific research to broader national objectives, both civilian and military.
• The Indian Navy too has modest marine scientific research capabilities and has deployed them for diplomatic purposes in the Indian Ocean.
• Although, it was a late starter in the maritime domain, China now scores over the US, let alone India, in the scale, intensity, and strategic purpose of its marine scientific research programmes.

Way ahead:

• For Delhi, the Shiyan incident is a useful reminder on the need to invest more in maritime scientific research.
• To strengthening its own national capabilities, Delhi needs to deepen its scientific cooperation with its partners in the maritime domain.
• The annual summit with Japan later this week and the dialogue between the foreign and defence ministers of India and the US in Washington next week offer a good opportunity to put maritime scientific research high on the agenda.

Conclusion:

• India and its partners, including the US, Japan, Australia and France, should develop mechanisms for collaborative research in maritime scientific domain.
• India and its partners must also consider better coordination between their respective maritime science diplomacy initiatives in the region.
• Such partnerships would provide a sound basis for eventual engagement with China on marine scientific research.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to the torrefaction technology, consider the following statements:
1. It involves heating up straw, grass, saw mill residue and wood biomass to 250 degrees Celsius - 350 degrees Celsius.
2. It will change the elements of the biomass into ‘coal-like’ pellets.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: C
Mains Questions:
Q.1) How India and its partners should coordinate maritime diplomacy?