U.S. Naval Basing in Sri Lanka?

civfanatic

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A huge strategic failure on our part. We should have carved out a separate, pro-India Tamil state from Sri Lanka. Now we have to deal with the Sinhalese playing stupid games like this, inviting China and U.S. right into our backyard. Fuck it all.
 

civfanatic

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But i dont know why the US would love to have a base in SL when they have one in Diego Garcia about a 1000 miles off SL?
Its a great move on their part. They've pretty much killed any chance of India exerting its own naval power in the IOR, now that the USN has eyes and ears on South India. It looks like the IOR will remain the USN's playground for the forseeable future.
 

SPIEZ

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Its a great move on their part. They've pretty much killed any chance of India exerting its own naval power in the IOR, now that the USN has eyes and ears on South India. It looks like the IOR will remain the USN's playground for the forseeable future.
Out of curiosity what role is there to be played in Indian Ocean Region, securing the sea routes ?


Why not give the US a base in Sikkim and Ladhak then?They would make good China repelants there too.
Most probably trying to put a check on the Chinese Navy, not their army. They already have bases in South Korea and Japan, if they wanted to repel the army, they could have had bases in ROC too
 

Param

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Out of curiosity what role is there to be played in Indian Ocean Region, securing the sea routes ?




Most probably trying to put a check on the Chinese Navy, not their army. They already have bases in South Korea and Japan, if they wanted to repel the army, they could have had bases in ROC too
I think you did not understand the context in which I made the previous statement.
 

Phenom

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This article is not official, its not even quasi-official. I highly doubt US would set up a base in SL, especially when Rajapakse is facing serious Human rights charges. Besides the Americans are trying to bring down their global presence, not increase it, US would most likely prefer India to counter China in SL rather than doing it on their own.
 

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Its a great move on their part. They've pretty much killed any chance of India exerting its own naval power in the IOR, now that the USN has eyes and ears on South India. It looks like the IOR will remain the USN's playground for the forseeable future.
Do you think having a naval base in SL or not will have any bearing on who is the king in IOR? The US will remain dominant whether they get any base or not in SL. The US still manages to keep its eyes and ears on India. The US gave india intel on 26/11. Probably our own agencies would not have had that kind of intel.
 

civfanatic

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Out of curiosity what role is there to be played in Indian Ocean Region, securing the sea routes ?
Over half of the world's oil flows through the Indian Ocean, including most of India's and China's oil.

At this point, whoever controls the IOR sea routes essentially controls the world economy.
 

Param

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Do you think having a naval base in SL or not will have any bearing on who is the king in IOR? The US will remain dominant whether they get any base or not in SL. The US still manages to keep its eyes and ears on India. The US gave india intel on 26/11. Probably our own agencies would not have had that kind of intel.
They could do better by handing over David Headly.
 

civfanatic

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Do you think having a naval base in SL or not will have any bearing on who is the king in IOR? The US will remain dominant whether they get any base or not in SL.
Assuming that, sometime in the future, the IN expands to the point where we have assets that can qualitatively and quantitatively compete with the USN on a regional level, then yes it will have a big bearing on who is the king of the IOR. Of course they already have Diego Garcia, but having Sri Lanka in addition to that will allow the US to put much more pressure on India.

The situation can be compared to Northeast Asia; as long as there is a US presence in South Korea and Taiwan, China will never be the king of the Yellow Sea or East China Sea.
 

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Not going to happen. Indian Navy is being courted by USN, and they wouldnt want to Indians to be unhappy.
But if Indians remain spineless to confront Chinese, (insert Vietnam here for example), then I do want USN to be in Sri Lanka. Somebody has to keep PLAN out of Indian Ocean
 

asianobserve

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Not going to happen. Indian Navy is being courted by USN, and they wouldnt want to Indians to be unhappy.
But if Indians remain spineless to confront Chinese, (insert Vietnam here for example), then I do want USN to be in Sri Lanka. Somebody has to keep PLAN out of Indian Ocean

Why would you not allow the USN to set up base in SL? Although a full pledged naval base is unlikely since the US already has Diego Garcia. The US on the other hand could enter into an offshore basing arrangment with SL wherein the US will maintain presence in a small port and airstrip in SLn soil as staging points for their offshore forces. This is the US arrangement with the Philippines and Indnesia.
 

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Assuming that, sometime in the future, the IN expands to the point where we have assets that can qualitatively and quantitatively compete with the USN on a regional level, then yes it will have a big bearing on who is the king of the IOR. Of course they already have Diego Garcia, but having Sri Lanka in addition to that will allow the US to put much more pressure on India.

The situation can be compared to Northeast Asia; as long as there is a US presence in South Korea and Taiwan, China will never be the king of the Yellow Sea or East China Sea.
Nope, it still wont have any bearing. India even after 20 years will be nowhere near USN. IN and USN are cooperating with each other so i dont see why we will compete. Forget SL, there are always these talks/rumors of them wanting a base in India itself!!

USN having a base in SL is better than having the Chinese having a base there.
 

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Why would you not allow the USN to set up base in SL? Although a full pledged naval base is unlikely since the US already has Diego Garcia. The US on the other hand could enter into an offshore basing arrangment with SL wherein the US will maintain presence in a small port and airstrip in SLn soil as staging points for their offshore forces. This is the US arrangement with the Philippines and Indnesia.
Indians have to understand that being a regional or a global power and the need to get things your way, requires you to have a backbone, character, policy, the trust of allies and balls to do what is required. Indians are famous, world famous for doing nothing. If I were Sri Lanka or any other country looking for a big brother or umbrella, I would be concerned about India's behavior
 

Param

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Nope, it still wont have any bearing. India even after 20 years will be nowhere near USN.
We will be, atleast in IOR.
IN and USN are cooperating with each other so i dont see why we will compete. Forget SL, there are always these talks/rumors of them wanting a base in India itself!!
What would happen if a Central govt with the leftists as prominent allies comes to power? They have no love lost for the US and Indo-US military co-operation will take a dip.

USN having a base in SL is better than having the Chinese having a base there.
Both will be having bases there. A US base there is not going to send the Chinese packing. The Lankans prefer the Chinese, they know that China is the future.

Ultimately it is a shame that India 'the aspiring superpower' needs the presence of foreign powers in its backyard to protect its own interests.
 

Yusuf

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We will be, atleast in IOR.
Dont delude. We will be a very good navy but dont say we will be in a position to beat the USN. IN and USN are going to cooperate. We will be team. One objective only, keep the chinis out.

You cannot have both Chinese and US side by side in SL.
 

Param

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Dont delude. We will be a very good navy but dont say we will be in a position to beat the USN. IN and USN are going to cooperate. We will be team. One objective only, keep the chinis out.
We may not be in a position to beat them, but definitely very formidable. Come on, are you underestimating Indian Navy in 2030 in IOR?
Ca you be absolutely sure that our ties with China will not improve tremendously? How you be absolutely sure that in the future some uS president does not come up with some thing like G2 and share the world between US and China?
And like I asked earlier how do you know that parties that are not in good terms with the US will not influence our foreign policy?
You cannot have both Chinese and US side by side in SL
.
That's for the Lankans to decide.They have already been successful at playing big powers against each other on the Tamil issue. The Lankans will follow the same strategy aiming for close ties with India , China and the US.
I hate Raja-Baksa but he and his team have shown that they have more brain and balls than those in GoI.
 
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Yusuf

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Just look at the acquisition plan for the USN and IN and that will give you an idea. Like I said, we will have a formidable navy but the USN will still call the shots in IOR.

I dont see Sino Indian relations improve. The Chinese cannot bear the site of competition in its dominance of the world. They are out to take out the US so India is but a minor player for them right now. And once India crosses the $5 trillion economy mark and gets MMRCA and its carriers and all on active duty, expect the worst from the Chinese.

Old saying but valid, ek miyan me do talwar nahi rehti.
 

Param

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Just look at the acquisition plan for the USN and IN and that will give you an idea. Like I said, we will have a formidable navy but the USN will still call the shots in IOR.

I dont see Sino Indian relations improve. The Chinese cannot bear the site of competition in its dominance of the world. They are out to take out the US so India is but a minor player for them right now. And once India crosses the $5 trillion economy mark and gets MMRCA and its carriers and all on active duty, expect the worst from the Chinese.

Old saying but valid, ek miyan me do talwar nahi rehti.
Could anybody have seen Indo-US ties improving to this extent in 1989?anything can happen 20 yrs from now
Won't be so easy for USN in 2030. The world will have multiple power centres then. It is only a matter of time that Russia rises once again but obviously not like SU. With Europe in crisis I think Germany and France to will also try to assert themselves more.

In 2030 US will not enjoy the same kind of power relationship it enjoys now in IOR with respect to India.
 

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