US and India use Indian Ocean Conference to reinforce their strategic interests
By
Pradeep Ramanayake and K. Ratnayake
8 September 2017
The advertised theme of last week’s Indian Ocean Conference (IOC) in Colombo was “peace, progress and prosperity.” But the two-day event had nothing to do with such aspirations. Washington and New Delhi used the event to unveil their plans to expand naval operations in the region and reiterate their strategic interests. Though they did not refer to China by name, it is the target of this military buildup.
The conference was hosted by the India Foundation, a think tank close to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in collaboration with Singapore’s Rajaratnam School of International Studies and the National Institute of Fundamental Studies, a Colombo research centre.
The main US speaker was Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells. The Indian delegation was led by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. Delegates attended from about 35 other countries, including Australia, France, Germany, Britain, Japan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Singapore, Seychelles, Mauritius, Malaysia and Vietnam. China and Pakistan sent low-profile delegations.
The event was held against the backdrop of increasing geo-political tensions between the US and India, on the one side, and China on the other.
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