HOW INDIA’S NECKLACE OF DIAMONDS STRATEGY PLANS TO STRANGLE CHINA

China’s policy of domination in the Indian ocean was dubbed ‘String of Pearls’ by the US defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton.

Continuing with this trend, China came up with its One Belt, One Road initiative to conquer world trade. China strategically used Djibouti, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar’s weak economic situation to surround India.

China spent billions of dollars building oil refineries, high-speed cables, and railway lines along with gas pipelines to build an alternate trade route around India.

Lastly, China is also building an extremely strategic railway line from London to China and another railway line from China to Iran, passing through Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan and ending in Tehran. With this, China intends to surround its rivals like India and eventually gain an economic advantage over the US.

The ‘Necklace of Diamonds’ is the name given to India’s strategy to tackle the diplomatic implications of The Belt initiative China.

Alfred Thayer, in his theory of sea dominance, said, “Whoever conquers the Indian Ocean will dominate the whole of Asia.”

The Indian Ocean consists of 28 countries, spanning three continents and covers 17.5% of the global land area. These countries include 21 members of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), including India, Iran, Malaysia, Australia, Bangladesh, Kenya, Oman, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, UAE and Yemen.