Vidhan Pathak was former faculty member at Department of Political Science and International Studies, Dire Dawa University, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia. He is currently Assistant Editor of Diaspora Studies, New Delhi.
The cooperation between China and Francophone Western Indian Ocean region is now getting more visible, particularly after the China-Africa summit in November 2006. China's new thrust in the Francophone Western Indian Ocean region was though framed within China's broader Africa policy, however there is indeed the centrality of maritime considerations. China seems to have a higher level of physical presence in the Francophone Western Indian Ocean's various island states than would be warranted by its present levels of trade and other economic activities.