Recent events are causing the natural rivalry between China and India to steadily escalate. The first link, from the BBC, analyzes the current state of this rivalry. It discusses Chinese plans to open a Chinese naval base in the Seychelles Island chain, located in the Indian Ocean. This base, if built, would be a clear and direct threat to India and its domination of the “Indian” Ocean. The second link has more specific information about this likely Chinese military base in the Indian Ocean. Indicative of how close this development may be to fruition is the recent presence of a Chinese military delegation in the Seychelles headed by the Chinese Defense Minister himself and approximately 40 other Chinese officers.
The first article reports that India, Japan and the USA will be holding a first-ever “trilateral dialogue” to address the issue of China’s new assertiveness. The article reports that India would still like more technological help from the USA, but China’s growing military power is steadily forcing Japan, India, the USA, and other Pacific Rim nations into an alliance to counter China’s power and stated willingness to use it (a recent post reported China’s high-level threat to declare war against Vietnam and the Philippines over South China Sea disputes).
I see another goal in China’s efforts to build a naval base in the Seychelles. If you consult a map or globe, you will notice that approximately 1000 miles to the east of the Seychelles Island chain is the island of Diego Garcia. Diego Garcia still belongs to the British, but the USA has had a major (and secretive) military base on Diego Garcia for many years. Diego Garcia has been used by the USAF for B-1 and perhaps B-2 bomber missions to attack targets in America’s Asian wars the last two decades (the first Persian Gulf War, the Iraqi invasion war and the current Afghan War). American military plans depend heavily on having its assets on Diego Garcia remaining unharmed and operational. If China gets a military base on the Seychelles, you can be sure the Chinese war-planners have noticed the proximity of Diego Garcia to the Seychelles, and they can be expected to place missiles on their future Seychelles military base with sufficient range to launch salvoes of Chinese missiles at America’s military base at Diego Garcia in a future war. If China does build a military base on the Seychelles, the USA will have to install extensive defensive weaponry at Diego Garcia to protect its assets there. Hopefully, those defensive assets are already there as China could easily send its submarines with sea-launched missiles to attack Diego Garcia’s military facilities any time they choose to do so.
As long-time readers of this blog know, this is all 100% consistent with the prophecies of Ezekiel 38-39 that China will part of the anti-western Gog-Magog alliance, and that Japan, India and other Pacific Rim nations will band together against Chinese threats. For those who have not done so, I suggest readers examine the article at my website that discusses Japan’s (and India’s) role in latter-day biblical prophecy, Japan’s Role in Biblical Prophecy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16149397
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/dec/7/inside-china-818785095/?page=all
