The strategic maneuverings between India, China, Pakistan, Japan et. al. continue, with the Arabian Sea as an emerging focal point.
India's giant new western naval base INS Kadamba was opened on May 31, with India's Defence Minister saying that it would protect the country's Arabian Sea maritime routes. Kadamba is an $8+ billion project that will become India's 3rd operational naval base after Mumbai and Visakhapatnam, and the first base under the sole control of India's Navy.
This is a move that matters at a global-historical level.
According to defense experts, the naval base at Karwar will play a major role in securing the seas not only for India but also for countries like Japan, which rely heavily on shipping for imports and exports through maritime routes in the Arabian Sea.
In Pakistan, meanwhile, the new deep-water port of Gwadar near Iran is in use by Pakistan as well as China, which also relies heavily on shipping for imports and exports through maritime routes in the Arabian Sea. In fact, China helped finance the project.
Defense Industry Daily has the details and links.
As far back as June 2002, I've been watching this play evolve, and proposing a "Mumbai Doctrine" as a logical successor to a similar effort once upon a time. As Wikipedia notes:
"Although it would take decades to coalesce into an identifiable policy, [President Monroe's Secretary of State] John Quincy Adams did raise a standard of an independent U.S. foreign policy so strongly that future administrations could not ignore it. One should note, however, that the policy succeeded because it met British interests as well as those of the United States and, for the next 100 years, was secured by the backing of the Royal Navy."
Probably because it kept their big strategic competitors out of a key area, while fostering the rise of new power that shared its background and traditions.
A wise lesson from our past - and perhaps for our future, as well.