China gets first-ever chance to enter Indian Ocean for exploration

BEIJING: China is stepping into the Indian Ocean for the first time, something it has been unsuccessfully seeking through alliances with Myanmar and Sri Lanka. It is doing it for mineral exploration. But the move is bound to draw close scrutiny from India, which is worried about China's military goals in the area.

The China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Association announced on Tuesday the country has obtained approval to explore a 10,000-square-km polymetallic sulphide ore deposit in an international seabed region of the southwest Indian Ocean.
Its application for prospecting the region was recently approved by the International Seabed Authority, the association said.

It is not clear if India and other countries had a say in the decision taken by the ISA. China also gained exclusive rights to prospect in a 75,000-square-km polymetallic nodule ore deposit in the east Pacific Ocean in 2001.

The latest move will make it possible for China to sign a 15-year exploration contract with the ISA later this year, the association said. What is more, China will enjoy preemptive rights to develop the ore deposit in the future.

China's state energy group CNPC last year begun building a crude oil port in Myanmar. It is part of a pipeline project aimed at cutting out the long detour oil cargoes take through the congested and strategically vulnerable Malacca Strait.