The Coco Islands () are a small group of islands in the northeastern Bay of Bengal. They are part of the Yangon Region of Myanmar since 1937. The islands are located south of the city of Yangon. Coco Island group consists of five islands: four on Great Coco Reef and one on the Little Coco Reef. To the north of this island group lies Preparis Island, belonging to Myanmar. To the south lies the Landfall Island, belonging to India.
History
The islands were once Indian possessions. They were on the ancient trade route between India, Burma and Southeast Asia and were regularly visited by ships. In the 16th century, Portuguese sailors named the islands after the Portuguese word for coconut, coco. The East India Company took over the islands in the 18th century, later becoming part of the British Raj. The Cocos Islands provided food, mainly coconuts, to a penal colony at Port Blair on South Andaman Island; the colony was established in 1858 to hold prisoners from the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
The islands were leased to the Jadwet family in the 1860s, who built a lighthouse on Table Island. The islands were deemed too remote to administer from India after it took many weeks for the Chief Commissioner at Port Blair to learn of a murder at the lighthouse in 1877. Control was transferred to British Burma by 1882. The islands were commercially leased starting in 1878, but attempts to develop it over the next 60 years failed.
Burma retained the islands when it became a crown colony in 1937. Japan occupied the islands from 1942 to 1945 during the Second World War. Burma became independent in 1948 with control over the Coco Islands. A penal colony was founded on Great Coco Island in January 1959 by Ne Win's government for political prisoners. After Ne Win’s 1962 coup d'état it developed a reputation as a Burmese "Devil’s Island". Three inmate hunger strikes from 1969 to 1971 led to the prison's closure in December 1971. Afterward the facilities were transferred to the Burmese Navy.
In 1998, George Fernandes claimed that China leased the islands in 1994; no supporting evidence had emerged by 2008.
Military
In 1992, a Japanese news service reported that China was helping upgrade the base on Great Coco Island. Through the 1990s and 2000s, journalists and academics expanded the claims to China having a major signals intelligence base, seemingly part of the so-called "string of pearls", that monitored Indian activity. In 1998, George Fernandes also claimed China intended to build a major naval base on the islands; India was the only country to publicly "confirm" that the Chinese base existed. No supporting evidence appears through 2008. China and Burma denied the base's existence. In 1998, the United States reported that there was no significant Chinese activity. In 2005, India retracted its position; this followed an Indian inspection of the islands at Burma's invitation.
In 2014, Air Marshal P. K. Roy, commander-in-chief of India's Andaman and Nicobar Command, stated that "China has been developing a runway for civilian purposes. There are no reports of the presence of Chinese per se. The situation is not alarming". He added that there was only some civilian infrastructural developments, which were not a threat to India.
Satellite images from Maxar Technologies, taken in January 2023, revealed upgrades to Coco Island Airport. These included a longer 2,300-metre runway, a radar tower, and two new hangars. It appears that the installation is run by the Tatmadaw or Myanmar military with no visible Chinese military presence.
Geography
The Bay of Bengal lies to the west of the islands. The Andaman Sea lies to the east. The Burmese mainland is to the north. The island of Preparis lies to the north-northeast of the Coco Islands. The Coco Islands consist of three main islands, namely Great Coco Island and the smaller Little Coco Island, separated by the Alexandra Channel, as well as Table Island, a third small island located near Great Coco Island.
Geographically, they are a part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands archipelago, most of which belongs to India. They are separated from Landfall Island, the northernmost island in the Indian part of the archipelago, by the wide Coco Channel.
Great Coco reef
This reef has four islands. From north to south those are Slipper Island, Table Island, Great Coco Island and Jerry Island.
Great Coco Island
The Coco Islands consist of three main islands: Great Coco Island and the smaller Little Coco Island are separated by the Alexandra Channel. A third small island located near Great Coco Island is Table Island.