Outgoing Union Minister of State for Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan’s insistence on establishing the proposed $5 billion international container transshipment port at Enayam, in his constituency Kanyakumari, has raised a storm this poll season. Fishermen are fearing loss of jobs and many are questioning the proposal’s rationale when the Vizhinjam port is coming up just 80 km away. But analysts see the project as an effort to counter Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean—Hambantota port in Sri Lanka. China plans to use the port for its Belt and Road Initiative.

China has invested massively in the Hambantota port despite its limited utility. India sees a potential naval base in the port, notwithstanding Sri Lanka’s denials. This, and indirect Chinese meddling in the Maldives have further raised New Delhi’s concerns. China’s pacts with the Maldives are on hold. But the BRI and Maritime Silk Route Initiative linking Gwadar—a geopolitical driver in Pakistan—to the Chinese heartland cannot be ignored.

China claims the BRI is primarily to strengthen itself economically following the global financial meltdown of 2008-09. But it has increased its clout in littoral states, thanks to investments in infrastructure like railways, airports and seaports, while impinging on the sovereignty of many countries—like in PoK. India sees a growing Chinese share in the economies of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Maldives and Nepal, besides other southeast Asian countries.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has also made for divergence in Indian and Chinese perspectives, despite India’s synergetic role in Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Many experts have called for a cautious Indian approach to BRI-SRI and limited selective engagements, since both nations—growing economic powers—cannot afford to ignore each other despite mutual fears of economic and military encirclement.