The Indian Ocean Pivot: Why Seychelles matters to India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Seychelles visit has brought the Indian Ocean power contest back into focus. The island nation’s location, maritime zone and links to East Africa make it a key partner for India as China expands its naval and infrastructure presence across the region.

Chinese state media’s response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Seychelles visit was unusually revealing. Within a day of the visit, Beijing highlighted the arrival of a People’s Liberation Army Navy destroyer at Port Victoria, emphasised President Xi Jinping’s message marking Seychelles’ 50th Independence Day and reaffirmed the two countries’ strategic partnership under the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. China’s media in effect highlighted how Seychelles was fast emerging as a vital arena in the wider strategic competition unfolding across the Indian Ocean.

Modi’s visit was far more than a bilateral diplomatic engagement. It represents a crucial rung of India’s effort to build a durable and strategic maritime architecture stretching across the Indian Ocean’s eastern and western littorals.

Seychelles occupies a unique geographical position. The archipelago oversees an exclusive economic zone approaching 1.4 million square kilometres and sits astride the sea lanes linking the Persian Gulf, East Africa, southern Africa and the Indo-Pacific. Shipping moving towards the Mozambique Channel and the Cape of Good Hope passes through waters where maritime awareness is increasingly indispensable for commercial security, naval operations and energy flows.

Equally significant is Seychelles’ location between two of the most consequential military positions in the Indian Ocean– the US base at Diego Garcia and China’s overseas naval facility at Djibouti.........

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