India to ink MoUs with Mauritius on maritime security, research as China taps Maldives, Sri Lanka again

New Delhi: With China nudging Sri Lanka and the Maldives to help it keep conducting surveys in the Indian Ocean and collect hydrographic data, India is set to work out a framework of cooperation with Mauritius on ocean observation, research and information management.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s forthcoming visit to Port Louis on Tuesday and Wednesday will see India and Mauritius signing two Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) for expanding bilateral maritime security cooperation.

The Indian Navy and the Mauritius Police Force will sign a technical agreement on sharing white-shipping information – an arrangement for the two nations to share information about commercial ships sailing through the region.

Besides, the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services of the Ministry of Earth Sciences will sign another MoU with the Prime Minister’s Office in Mauritius, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said.

The two MoUs will expand the scope for India’s maritime security cooperation with Mauritius amid increasing forays of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s warships and research vessels in the Indian Ocean region.

Beijing recently made President Anura Kumar Dissanayake’s government in Colombo quietly let a one-year moratorium imposed in January 2024 on operations of foreign research vessels in the Sri Lankan waters and port calls by them.

The moratorium had been imposed to allay New Delhi’s concerns over the frequent forays by the Chinese PLA Navy’s spy ships in the Indian Ocean region, particularly in the Sri Lankan waters.

Dissanayake’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in January also saw the two sides agreeing on signing a MoU soon on “ocean cooperation”.

Beijing of late also made President Mohammed Muizzu’s government in Malé agree to let it install Fish Aggregator Devices in the exclusive economic zone of the Maldives.

New Delhi is concerned over the possibility of the installation of the devices being a ruse for the Chinese PLA Navy collecting hydrographic data and planting surveillance equipment in the Indian Ocean region.

Sources in New Delhi cited the MoUs to be signed between India and Mauritius after Modi’s meeting Navin Ramgoolam in Port Louis as important steps to respond to Chinese PLA Navy’s bids in the Indian Ocean region.

The technical agreement on sharing white-shipping information between the Indian Navy and Mauritius Police Force “will further enhance maritime security of Mauritius, safety of its trading corridors, and enhance regional cooperation in real-time sharing of data,” Misri told journalists in New Delhi ahead of the prime minister’s visit to Port Louis. “It will enable Indian authorities and Mauritius authorities to cooperate in preventing illegal activities, improve Mauritius' maritime domain awareness in the region.”

The MOU between INCOIS of the Ministry of Earth Sciences of the Government of India and the Mauritian Prime Minister's Office will establish “a comprehensive framework for cooperation on ocean observation, research and information management, and enhancing maritime zone management in the island nation, said the foreign secretary. “This will involve a lot of technical activities such as ocean modelling and focus on capacity building and training in this particular area. There will be engagement on the latest technologies, collaboration on best practices, data management, remote sensing, etc. We will provide details of this once this is done between the two sides,” he added.