Make the neighbourhood first again

Make the neighbourhood first again

Context:

• In the present time, India’s connect with its South Asian neighbours is weaker than it has been for a very long time.

What are the reasons for which India’s present state of relation with its South Asian neighbors is weaker than it has been?

SAARC not in ideal terms with India:

• The first problem is that for various reasons, other governments in the SAARC region are either not on ideal terms with India, or facing political turbulence.
• For example: In the Maldives, President Yameen Abdul Gayoom has gone out of his way to challenge the India, whether it is on his crackdown on the opposition, invitations to China, or even breaking with India’s effort to isolate Pakistan at SAARC.
• In Nepal, the K.P. Sharma Oli government is certainly not India’s first choice.
• In other parts of the neighbourhood, where relations have been comparatively better for the past few years, upcoming elections could turn the tables on India.

China’s unprecedented attacks:

• The next problem is the impact of China’s unprecedented attacks into each of these countries.
• For example: Instead of telling the Nepal government to sort out issues with India, as it had in the past, China opened up an array of alternative trade and connectivity options after the 2015 India-Nepal border blockade: from the highway to Lhasa, cross-border railway lines to the development of dry ports.

India’s hard power tactics in the neighborhood:

• The third issue is that the Modi government’s decision to use hard power tactics in the neighbourhood has had a boomerang effect.
• For example: The “surgical strikes” on Pakistan of 2016 have been followed by a greater number of ceasefire violations and cross-border infiltration on the Line of Control.
• While many of these factors are hard to reverse, the fundamental facts of geography and shared cultures in South Asia are also undeniable, and India must focus its efforts to return to a more comfortable peace, and to “Making the Neighbourhood First Again”.

What are the measures to be taken to renew the relationship with its South Asian neighbors?

• Firstly, India’s most potent tool is its soft power.
• For example, its successes in Bhutan and Afghanistan, have much more to do with its development assistance than its defence assistance.
• Also, after the Doklam crisis was defused in 2017, India also moved swiftly to resolve differences with Bhutan on hydropower pricing.
• Secondly, instead of opposing every project by China in the region, the government must attempt a three-pronged approach.
• (a) Wherever possible, India should collaborate with China in the manner it has over the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic corridor.
• (b) Whenever it feels a project is a threat to its interests, India should make a counter-offer to the project, if necessary in collaboration with its Quadrilateral partners, Japan, the U.S. and Australia.
• (c) India should coexist with projects that do not necessitate intervention, while formulating a set of South Asian principles for sustainable development assistance that can be used across the region.
• It is possible if India and China reset bilateral ties, which have seen a marked slide over the past few years.
• Thirdly, it will also be impossible to renew the compact with the neighbours without reviving the SAARC process.
• Fourthly, it is suggested that leaders of SAARC countries should meet more often informally, they should interfere less in the internal workings of each other’s governments, and there should be more interaction at every level of government.
• Fifthly, just as Indonesia, the biggest economy in the ASEAN, allowed smaller countries such as Singapore to take the lead, India too must take a back seat in decision-making, enabling others to build a more harmonious SAARC process.