The Chinese can have their bases as many as is required.
In the event of a confrontation, causative of Chinese anger at being 'contained' by the Asia Pacific navies and the US Navies, the Malacca Straits will get 'closed'.
Then the Chinese naval presence will be defeated in detail.
Seychelles should be given a series of carrot and stick measures to take back on the offer because if this is the first base and India does nothing about it, then we can see more coming up. It is unacceptable that Seychelles should be doing this. If they need security from pirates, Indian Navy should provide that for them. Why should China be invited from outside?
The British administration employed indentured servants from India to the same degree as in Mauritius resulting in a small Indian population. The Indians, like a similar minority of Chinese, were confined to a merchant class. Today the descendents of the Indian, Chinese, and Gran'bla form distinct ethnic communities, although most people are of 'black' African origin, often mixed with 'white' European or Asian heritage.
As the islands of Seychelles had no indigenous population, the current Seychellois are composed of people who have emigrated to the island. The largest ethnic groups are those of African, French, Indian, and Chinese descent. French and English are official languages along with Seychellois Creole, which is primarily based upon French. Turkish, Spanish, and Arabic are spoken by a small part of population as secondary languages.
According to the 2002 census, most Seychellois are Christians: 82.3% are Roman Catholic, 6.4% are Anglican, and 4.5% are of other Christian denominations. There are also small minorities that practice Hinduism (2.1%) and Islam (1.1%). Other non-Christian faiths account for 1.5% of the population while a further 2.1% were non-religious or did not specify a religion. The total median age of Seychellois is 32 years.
Reply
