{"id":32455,"date":"2018-10-29T14:47:05","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T09:17:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=32455"},"modified":"2018-10-29T14:47:05","modified_gmt":"2018-10-29T09:17:05","slug":"out-at-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/out-at-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Out at sea\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/op-ed\/out-at-sea\/article22288666.ece\">Out at sea<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Context<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>India should remain a balancing power, and anchored in the Indian Ocean<\/p>\n<p><strong>India\u2019s emergence recognised in the NSS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In its National Security Strategy (NSS), the U.S. has called China a \u201cchallenger\u201d and \u201crival\u201d while welcoming India\u2019s emergence as a \u201cleading global power and stronger strategic and defence partner\u201d, and declared that it seeks to increase \u2018Quadrilateral\u2019 cooperation with Japan, Australia, and India.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Increase in Quad cooperation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The NSS also states that the U.S. would support India\u2019s growing relationships throughout the region<\/p>\n<p><strong>New Delhi should be cautious<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While the broader emphasis on improving the partnership is welcome, policy-makers in New Delhi should be cautious on two counts<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>One, India should be wary of any attempts at being pitted as a front in the U.S.\u2019s efforts to check China\u2019s rise<\/li>\n<li>Two, while the notion of the Indo-Pacific sounds grandiose and enticing, India must not forget that its primary area of concern is the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). Securing its position here is vital before venturing elsewhere.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>India should remain a balancing power<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>As its stature in global politics increases, it is in the nation\u2019s as well as global interest that India remains a balancing power.<\/li>\n<li>For instance, India\u2019s vote in the UN General Assembly over Jerusalem should be seen in line with a \u201crules-based world order.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>India should look to check the Chinese expansion<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>At the same time, there is no question that India should hedge against the rapid expansion of Chinese presence in the IOR<\/li>\n<li>This is further underscored by recent acknowledgment by the People\u2019s Liberation Army that it is \u201cplanning to explore the possibility of more foreign military outposts in Africa, West Asia and other areas.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>IOR should remain the focus for India<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>For India, geographically the area of concern, and so the area of focus, should remain the IOR, stretching from the Gulf of Aden to the Strait of Malacca<\/li>\n<li>While reiterating its commitment to upholding the established laws of the global commons, New Delhi should not go adrift in the larger Indo-Pacific<\/li>\n<li>As more powers make inroads into this strategically crucial space, India must consolidate its position and not expect others to do its job, for it would only mean ceding space in the long run.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The steps for doing so<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are two ways of doing this \u2014<\/p>\n<p>Beefing up Indian capacity and securing interests and then expanding partnerships to fill voids.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Capacity building in our own backyard<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The tags of net security provider and leading global power would mean nothing if New Delhi cannot undertake capacity building in its own backyard, be it South Asia or the IOR.<\/p>\n<p><strong>India should lead the other countries not vice versa<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>While the offer of help from various countries to help expand India\u2019s network in the region looks tempting, it actually reflects India\u2019s failure to establish its primacy in the region.<\/li>\n<li>Ideally, it should have been the other way round: India guiding outside powers in its backyard. In this context, it is imperative for policy-makers in New Delhi to conduct a reality check on relations with our neighbours.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Not at the expense of neighbors<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Over the last couple of months, there have been hectic parleys with various nations in various formats \u2014 quadrilateral, trilateral, etc. But it cannot be at the expense of the neighbours.<\/li>\n<li>While being part of various groupings is important, it is imperative that they are in line with our interests<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>More clarity needed on the Quad<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>That is where more clarity is required on the recently resurrected Quad. Except India, for the other three the primary focus is the Pacific Ocean, especially the South China Sea.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key initiatives<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At the same time, some recent initiatives illustrate the way forward for India.<\/p>\n<p><strong>India and Singapore<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Last month, India and Singapore concluded an overarching bilateral agreement for naval cooperation<\/li>\n<li>Besides being only India\u2019s second bilateral logistics arrangement, it gives it\u00a0access to the Changi naval base at the mouth of the Strait of Malacca<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Joint Multilateral exercises<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With Singapore\u2019s assistance, India is also working out modalities for joint multilateral exercises with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Logistics agreement with other countries<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>India is also negotiating similar logistics agreements with several other countries.<\/li>\n<li>These developments show the way forward for India to engage with like-minded countries in the region without getting entangled in groupings which are seen as being targeted or military in nature.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Goa Maritime Enclave<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Another initiative which fits the bill is the\u00a0Goa Maritime Conclave\u00a0hosted by the Indian navy last month where Navy Chiefs and maritime heads of 10 Indian Ocean littoral states brainstormed on ways to improve cooperation in the region<\/li>\n<li>It is an India-led initiative where the navy has offered to share information of maritime movement in real-time.<\/li>\n<li>This is the template for India to take forward to build its primacy in the IOR before venturing into adjacent waters while also making sure that its interests are taken heed of while getting into various groupings and not end up doing someone else\u2019s bidding.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Out at sea\u00a0 Context India should remain a balancing power, and anchored in the Indian Ocean India\u2019s emergence recognised in the NSS In its National Security Strategy (NSS), the U.S. has called China a \u201cchallenger\u201d and \u201crival\u201d while welcoming India\u2019s emergence as a \u201cleading global power and stronger strategic and defence partner\u201d, and declared that&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/out-at-sea\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Out at sea\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704851690},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32455\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}