Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean, is increasingly becoming
Speaker 2: a popular travel destination.
Speaker 1: It's the greenest green like I've ever seen.
Speaker 2: Peter Martin is a Bloomberg correspondent covering Africa in the
Speaker 2: Middle East. He's based in Nairobi, Kenya, in East Africa,
Speaker 2: and last month he hopped on a four hour flight
Speaker 2: to Mauritius.
Speaker 1: I'm from the countryside in England and the plants growing
Speaker 1: in this volcanic soil on the side of these dramatic
Speaker 1: mountains and then surrounded by these perfect blue waters and
Speaker 1: coral reefs. It's really a strikingly beautiful place.
Speaker 2: But Peter wasn't in Mauritius to take a vacation. He
Speaker 2: was there because the tiny island nation is now front
Speaker 2: and center of an increasingly tense and vital global power play.
Speaker 1: It's one of those parts of the world that after
Speaker 1: the Cold War was a little bit forgotten, and it's
Speaker 1: largely known for its perfect beaches and as a tax pavement,
Speaker 1: but it's also the merged as a kind of crucial
Speaker 1: theater for competition. This kind of interesting three way tussle
Speaker 1: between China, India, and the United States.
Speaker 2: Mauritius and its neighboring islands in the Indian Ocean are
Speaker 2: strategically important for these global powers. They use the islands
Speaker 2: as basis to protect shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean
Speaker 2: and to project military power throughout the region, and China's
Speaker 2: growing presence and influence in the Indian Ocean is raising
Speaker 2: alarm in India.
Speaker 1: India looks at the whole of the Indian Ocean region
Speaker 1: as something akin to its backyard. Deli sees the region
Speaker 1: as a place which is crucial to its ability to
Speaker 1: do trade, to procure energy, and is non negotiable part
Speaker 1: of its path to great power status. And so the
Speaker 1: idea that any foreign power, but especially Beijing, could threaten
Speaker 1: that is profoundly worrying for policymakers in Delhi. I think
Speaker 1: it's fair to say that it keeps them up at night.
Speaker 2: Welcome to The Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm Wanha.
Speaker 2: Every week we take you inside some of the world's
Speaker 2: biggest and most powerful economies and the markets, tycoons and
Speaker 2: businesses that drive this ever shifting region. Today on the
Speaker 2: show How Mauritius and its island neighbors got caught in
Speaker 2: a power tussle between the world's biggest economies. And what
Speaker 2: does China's growing cloud in the Indian Ocean mean for India,
Speaker 2: the US and the rest of the world. Mauritius is
Speaker 2: a tiny volcanic island about fifteen hundred miles from the
Speaker 2: East African coast in the Indian Ocean. It has a
Speaker 2: population of about one point three million people, and its
Speaker 2: ties with one of its biggest neighbors, India, runs deep.
Speaker 1: Mauritius had no indigenous population when Europeans showed up. The
Speaker 1: island was primarily populated by Britain, taking ethnic Indians from
Speaker 1: the subcontinent there as indentured laborers. About seventy percent of
Speaker 1: the population are ethnic Indian and Mauritius doesn't have a
Speaker 1: standing military, so it relies on India for that external security.
Speaker 2: But in recent years the island has started to see
Speaker 2: new influences emerge, especially in the island's capital, Port Louis.
Speaker 1: China has poured infrastructure investment into the island. It's built
Speaker 1: a substantial dam, invested in the Special Economic Zone. It's
Speaker 1: built radio stations, shopping malls a long list of projects,
Speaker 1: and you can see the way that the United States,
Speaker 1: for example, has responded to it. The US embassy was
Speaker 1: based or is still based in a kind of cramped
Speaker 1: office building in downtown Port Louis, but Washington is pouring
Speaker 1: three hundred million dollars into building a new mega embassy there.
Speaker 2: The maneuvering by these global powers has put Port Louis
Speaker 2: onto the map of global geopolitical hotspots. This week, Indian
Speaker 2: Prime Minister Norendra Modi traveled to Mauritius for a two
Speaker 2: day state visit to reinforce the island's importance to his country.
Speaker 1: So the Modi administration, partly because of China's increased presence
Speaker 1: in the region, has spoken for many years about a
Speaker 1: neighborhood first policy. Delhi very much sees Mauritius as part
Speaker 1: of its extended neighborhood and wants to show that it
Speaker 1: is going to put in the work to show Mauritius
Speaker 1: that it's valued in Delhi and to make sure that
Speaker 1: its voice is being heard in the tolls of power
Speaker 1: in Port Louis.
Speaker 2: Peter spoke to the Foreign Minister of Mauritius for this story,
Speaker 2: and he said, while the government welcomes the investment, politicians
Speaker 2: are also very much much aware of the tight rope
Speaker 2: it has to walk with all of these competing interests.
Speaker 1: He was very frank that in the past, small nations
Speaker 1: like Mauritius feel like they've been ignored by major powers,
Speaker 1: and that's changing, and it's changing to the advantage of Mauritius.
Speaker 1: He was very explicit about that. I think you see
Speaker 1: like a strong recognition there that there's a lot to
Speaker 1: be gained from engaging with China, but if you go
Speaker 1: too far down that path, it creates problems for your
Speaker 1: relationship with the US and India. So the country is
Speaker 1: really trying to sort of balance itself there between these
Speaker 1: three competing powers.
Speaker 2: Peter says, what's happening on Mauritius with these three global
Speaker 2: powers is playing out all across the Indian Ocean on
Speaker 2: different islands and surrounding coastal countries. One big reason for
Speaker 2: all this jockeying trade the Indian Ocean sits in the
Speaker 2: middle of major shipping routes and key maritime choke points
Speaker 2: that allow oil to move between Europe, Asia, Africa, and.
Speaker 1: The Middle East. This region is essential to global trade.
Speaker 1: It's essential to global energy flows. It's home to something
Speaker 1: like forty percent the world's offshore petroleum, and historically India
Speaker 1: is overwhelmingly dependent on maritime trade as a lifeline for
Speaker 1: its economy. It's something like eighty percent of India's oil imports,
Speaker 1: ninety five percent of its trade by volume come in
Speaker 1: through the Indian Ocean, so it's really crucially significant.
Speaker 2: But trade is only half the reason these global powers
Speaker 2: have their eyes on the Indian Ocean. It's strategically vital
Speaker 2: for India for maybe obvious reasons, but it's also become
Speaker 2: strategically important to China.
Speaker 1: China's first overseas military base was constructed in Djibouti on
Speaker 1: the Horn of Africa, opened in twenty seventeen and gives
Speaker 1: China potential to project power across the Middle East. And
Speaker 1: if you look at the Pentagon's list of places where
Speaker 1: the US believes that China is interested in establishing overseas bases,
Speaker 1: they more or less draw a ring around the Indian
Speaker 1: Ocean region. And if you're looking at this from Delhi,
Speaker 1: it's profoundly threatening.
Speaker 2: For decades, India focused on threats that would come by land.
Speaker 2: When it came to security. India shares a border with China,
Speaker 2: and thousands of troops from both sides have engaged in
Speaker 2: ten standoffs along the disputed frontier since the nineteen sixties.
Speaker 2: Peter says China's growing quest for influence on land and
Speaker 2: sea has forced India to think of its namesake Ocean
Speaker 2: as a second border with China.
Speaker 1: When we were reporting this story, we talked to Indian
Speaker 1: policymakers and one of the things that they said to
Speaker 1: us was that India's attitude toward overseas basing has changed.
Speaker 1: It now recognizes the fact that it's going to need
Speaker 1: to project military power further overseas, and it's going to
Speaker 1: need to contest China's influence in the region in a
Speaker 1: much more.
Speaker 2: It's not just China in India that have a horse
Speaker 2: in this race. The US is a big player in
Speaker 2: these waters too. That's after the break. India and China
Speaker 2: are jockeying for control in the Indian Ocean, and Bloomberg
Speaker 2: reporter Peter Martin says that tussle is being closely watched
Speaker 2: by the US.
Speaker 1: If you think about the issues and areas that matter
Speaker 1: to the US most, what does it need to maintain
Speaker 1: its future as a superpower. At the center of that
Speaker 1: is its ability to continue to be a global trade
Speaker 1: player and to have access to global international markets. So
Speaker 1: if you're an American strategist looking at how do we
Speaker 1: keep global trade flowing, then maintaining freedom of navigation in
Speaker 1: the Indian Ocean region, ensuring that energy and goods can
Speaker 1: continue to go back and forth, is crucial to America's
Speaker 1: ability to continue to be a global trading partner.
Speaker 2: One other major reason the US cares so much about
Speaker 2: the region security. The US has a major military base
Speaker 2: that it runs with the UK on a remote island
Speaker 2: in the Indian Ocean called Diego Garcia, a British territory.
Speaker 1: So if you look at a map of the Indian Ocean,
Speaker 1: Diego Garcia is right in the center of it. Used
Speaker 1: historically to monitor maritime communications, to monitor submarine activity, used
Speaker 1: later in the War on terraf by the US to
Speaker 1: launch bombing raids on Afghanistan and Iraq, and so really
Speaker 1: important strategic location there.
Speaker 2: Last year, the UK drafted a deal to hand back
Speaker 2: Diego Garcia and some other islands to Mauritius in order
Speaker 2: to comply with the UN Court ruling. There's some uncertainty
Speaker 2: where their president Donald Trump will sign off on the deal,
Speaker 2: which includes a provision to keep the military base on
Speaker 2: the island for at least another ninety nine years. But
Speaker 2: the US needs more than an island air base in
Speaker 2: the Indian Ocean to counter China's growing influence in the region.
Speaker 2: It needs other partners to help, with India at the
Speaker 2: top of the list.
Speaker 1: Washington is very much aware that it needs to support
Speaker 1: India as a potential partner in that competition with China.
Speaker 1: Washington would very much like India to beat the sheriff
Speaker 1: in the region. I've heard Washington policymakers use that phrase
Speaker 1: as it confronts the reality that it can't be everywhere
Speaker 1: all the time with the same amount of resources.
Speaker 2: So you've got China and India throwing money into development
Speaker 2: and infrastructure projects in the region, in Mauritius and in
Speaker 2: other places, while the US is pulling back on foreign aid.
Speaker 2: I mean, USAAD has been gutted. Is the US at
Speaker 2: a disadvantage because it's not funding projects the way Indian
Speaker 2: and China are Is that part of the conversation.
Speaker 1: It's definitely part of the conversation. Washington was the world's
Speaker 1: largest aid spender, and lots of that aid went to
Speaker 1: countries across the Indian Ocean region. There are commentators, especially
Speaker 1: if you talk to former Biden officials, who say that
Speaker 1: this opens a potential door for Beijing, but it's not
Speaker 1: clear cut and.
Speaker 2: Do we have a sense of how this jocking for
Speaker 2: power in the Indian Ocean will play out?
Speaker 1: I think when you look at the Indian Ocean from
Speaker 1: the perspective of Beijing and New Delhi, China fears that
Speaker 1: its access to Middle East oil could be cut off
Speaker 1: and feels the need to position military assets in the
Speaker 1: region and to gain diplomatic influence in the region. India
Speaker 1: looks to the region as its backyard, as the first
Speaker 1: place that it needs to assert itself as a rising power,
Speaker 1: and it feels like Beijing is encroaching on its ability
Speaker 1: to do that. Washington doesn't feel a threat in quite
Speaker 1: the same direct way, but President Trump has been very
Speaker 1: clear about his identification of China as a major economic threat.
Speaker 1: So it's really about Washington looking to keep his own
Speaker 1: voice in the conversation, but then looking at how can
Speaker 1: it partner with other countries to make sure that China
Speaker 1: doesn't become the dominant voice in the region.
Speaker 2: This is The Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm wanh.
Speaker 2: This episode was produced by Nameing Young Young and Jessica Beck.
Speaker 2: It was edited by Patty Hirsh and Neil Munschi. It
Speaker 2: was fact checked by Young and Naomi, mixed by Alex Sugira,
Speaker 2: and sound designed by Jessica. Our senior producer is Naomi Shaven.
Speaker 2: Our senior editor is Elizabeth Ponso. Our executive producer is
Speaker 2: Nicole Beemster Bower. Save Bauman is Bloomberg's head of podcasts.
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Speaker 2: See Next Time, MHM.