Indian Ocean and Dubai (UAE). Chinese companies have made investments in several Indian Ocean ports, including Gwadar, Hambantota, Colombo and Sonadia. This has sparked a debate about the strategic implications of these investments. Small islands dot the continental rims. Island nations within the ocean are Madagascar (the world's fourth largest island), Bahrain, Comoros, Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles and Sri Lanka. The archipelago of Indonesia and the island nation of East Timor border the ocean on the east. Heading roughly clockwise, the states and territories (in italics) with a coastline on the Indian Ocean (including the Red Sea and Persian Gulf) are: Africa Asia
Geography of the British Indian Ocean Territory Australia). Diego Garcia lies at the southernmost tip of the Chagos-Laccadive Ridge — a vast submarine range in the Indian Ocean. The total area encompassed by the atoll is . At the entrance to the lagoon, there are three small islands, and these are East Island (), Middle Island (), and West Island (). In some areas, the atoll has both marshes and wetlands. The ecosystem consists of undisturbed tropical forests. The Peros Banhos Islands, which are the largest group on the Chagos Bank, consists of 27 islands scattered around the rim of an immense lagoon, which has a perimeter