00:02India's Great Nicobar Island is a world away from busy Delhi or Mumbai.
00:07It's a lush place. About 95% of it is covered in forests with unique species,
00:12and perhaps more undiscovered ones. But change is coming, and quickly.
00:17India plans to put 9 billion US dollars into building a megaport, an airport,
00:22and an entire new city here. About a fifth of the land will need to be cleared.
00:27There will be bridges, docks, and roads. It's a calculated move.
00:32This island and its neighbors sit in an important spot in the Andaman Sea,
00:36and one rival China is watching closely.
00:40And you need to keep watch on Bay of Bengal.
00:42You need to keep a watch on increasing forays by different navies,
00:47including the Chinese Navy, into the area.
00:50So you need upgraded infrastructure, enhanced capabilities, which is being provided now.
00:58India looks with suspicion at Chinese facilities around the Indian Ocean,
01:02describing them as a, quote,
01:03string of pearls meant to entrench Chinese influence and hamper India's own rise.
01:08The megaproject on Great Nicobar will counter that.
01:11The island is close to Southeast Asia and sits at one entrance to the Strait of Malacca,
01:16which carries 30% of global trade.
01:18In addition to civilian infrastructure, secretive military plans are afoot for the islands too.
01:23India's government says the project meets all green requirements,
01:27with protected zones for local people, flora, and fauna.
01:30But some are uneasy.
01:32Barnabas Manchu is one of around 1,200 indigenous people here.
01:36He foresees the last vestiges of his group's traditional ways disappearing.
01:43Our tribe's livelihood depends on the jungle and the sea.
01:47We catch fish from the sea and use forest resources for food and daily needs.
01:53We have traditionally depended on hunting.
01:55If we lose access to these lands, our culture will also be lost.
01:59And there are even more isolated groups, like the hunter-gathering Champagne people.
02:05As the project attracts waves of outsiders,
02:07it could put pressure on their traditional way of life and the lands they depend on.
02:12To me, it is a sheer imposition of development on the Champagne.
02:18So this much I can say.
02:21And some settlers from the Indian mainland, or their descendants,
02:25feel compensation for their displacement is not enough.
02:30Our lives feel completely destroyed.
02:32The land rates being offered are not fair.
02:35And the housing being provided is very small compared to what we are losing.
02:39Even the current house was allocated by the government.
02:41But if we're given proper housing now, that would still be acceptable.
02:46Whether locals are satisfied or not, geopolitics is geopolitics.
02:51And the reality here is already changing.
02:53The first US$4 billion phase, a port and airport, could be done within three years.
03:00A container port built from scratch will become one of India's three biggest ports.
03:04It's meant to make China sit up and notice.
03:07The question now is whether New Delhi can deliver the balance between national interests and local protections that it's promised.
03:14Alex Chen and John Van Trieste for Taiwan Plus.
03:18Yeah, a place.
03:18It's a place to come.
03:19You can find the price to close the world in Canada.
03:19Any validationship is not true for the world.
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