China making inroads into key choke points in Indian Ocean: US lawmaker

China is making inroads into key choke points along the Indian Ocean and obstructing the right to freely navigate the waters, an influential American lawmaker has said, expressing concerns over increasing Chinese investment in South Asia.

Congresswoman Young Kim, who is chairman of the Subcommittee on Indo-Pacific in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said South Asia holds immense significance for the US foreign policy and national security interests.

The region faces a dynamic geopolitical landscape that presents challenges for the US policy objectives. The Indian Ocean is a crucial channel for global trade, an estimated 80 per cent of maritime oil trade and 40 per cent of world trade passes through the Indian Ocean, she said.

 

CCP is making inroads into key choke points along these routes and obstructing the right to freely navigate the waters. In recent years, we have seen Chinese ports in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, military installations in Djibouti and infrastructure investments in the Maldives which threaten the US national security and economic interests and those of our friends and allies in the region, Young said.

Last month my subcommittee held a hearing on the Indo-Pacific budget and CCP aggression in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait. We cannot forget the significance of Indo in the Indo Pacific. The CCP has sparked border conflicts along the Line of Control in India and its submarines and warships regularly sail in the Indian Ocean, she said during a Congressional hearing here on Tuesday.
 

I'm particularly concerned about the Maldives, a key US security partner in the Indian Ocean and its growing relationship with the CCP. The Maldives, having received several large CCP investments including $200 million for the China-Maldives Friendship Bridge, is $1.4 billion in debt to the CCP. During the Maldives president's visit with Xi Jinping in January, the two countries signed an additional 20 bilateral agreements, she said.

The CCP is a top trading partner for Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Afghanistan, which is around our strategic partner India. The PLA's presence is also intensifying both along the Indian border and in the Indian Ocean. Aid and cooperation play a pivotal role not only in advancing US interests in South Asia, but also in enhancing their prosperity and keeping the region free and open, Young said.

Without greater US support, our allies and friends could be forced to accept further trade and investment from the CCP. As South Asia grapples with refugee crises that are the result of bitter wars and coups, increasing CCP coalition coercion and debt trap, diplomacy tactics. And terrorism and criminal drug networks, strong and sustained US engagement is critical, she said.

Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu said that military relationship between the Maldives and People's Republic of China is only now starting.

We have the opportunity to shape that relationship through competition if you're the Maldives, he said.