The Indo-Pacific Axis: Peace and Prosperity or Conflict? [1 ed.] 113858942X, 9781138589421

Table of contents :
Contents
Foreword
Introduction • Baladas Ghoshal
1. India’s Approach to the Indo-Pacific • Anil Wadhwa
2. The Arc of Peace and Prosperity in the Indo-Pacific Region • Sudhir T. Devare
3. Indo-Pacific Region: An Indian Perspective • Rajiv Bhatia
4. India and Australia: Creating New Strategic Geometries in the Indo-Pacific • David Brewster
5. Geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific and Disputes in he South China Sea • Vice-Admiral Anup Singh (Retd)
6. Maritime Security in the Indo-Pacific • Masahiro Akiyama
7. The US and Indian Ocean Region: Implications for India • K.P. Vijayalakshmi
8. The US Pivot to Asia: Implications for the Indo-Pacific • Sujeet Samaddar
9. Japan and the Changing Geopolitics of the Indian Ocean: An Indian Perspective • Rajaram Panda
10. Locating China in the Evolving Discourses on the Indo-Pacific Geopolitics • Swaran Singh
11. India’s Role in Ensuring Stability and Security in the South China Sea • Vo Xuan Vinh
12. Understanding the Indo-Pacific: Why Indonesia will be Critical? • Shankari Sundararaman
13. Cultural and Economic Expansionon the Maritime Route • Lokesh Chandra
List of Contributors
Index

Citation preview

T H E I N D O - PAC I F IC A X I S The term ‘Indo-Pacific’ is being used increasingly in the global strategic/geo-political discourse in recent years. The rise of China as an economic giant and a rising military power has led to the consequent shift of international politics and relations to Asia as the fulcrum. It has turned the whole region of Indo-Pacific as one security complex. Countries that are part of the region but also countries that are adjacent or outside the region, but also the countries adjoining the oceans look for a mechanism in accordance with a rule-based order. International law that would protect the rights of the nations to pursue global commons was emphasized. This timely volume presents a collection of articles by leading scholars on the subject from the region. It addresses the faultlines of both traditional and non-traditional security issues. Military modernization, especially of the naval forces of a number of powers, national ambitions of power projection, and plans to build ports in strategic locations are exacerbating insecurity and greater arms race. It also poses the question, whether the Indo-Pacific region will become a theatre of tension and instability, or a contributor to peace and prosperity for the larger populations that reside herein? Satish Chandra retired as Professor of History, Jawaharlal Nehru University, in 1987. Since then he has been active in the Society for Indian Ocean Studies of which he is the Vice-Chairman. He was Chairman, University Grants Commission 1973-81. Baladas Ghoshal is currently Secretary General, Society for Indian Ocean Studies; until recently he was the ICCR Chair in Indian Studies at the Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow.

Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group http://taylorandfrancis.com

T H E I N D O - PAC I F IC A X I S

Peace and Prosperity or Conflict?

Edited by S AT I SH C HA N D R A BA L A DA S G HO SHA L

ROUTLEDGE

Routledge Taylor & Francis Group

LONDON AND NEW YORK

First published 2018 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2018 selection and editorial matter, Satish Chandra and Baladas Ghoshal; individual chapters, the contributors; and Manohar Publishers & Distributors The right of Satish Chandra and Baladas Ghoshal to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Print edition not for sale in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan or Bhutan) British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-1-138-58942-1 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-49166-5 (ebk) Typeset in Minion Pro 11/13 by Ravi Shanker, Delhi 110 095

MANOHAR

Contents

Foreword

7

Introduction Baladas Ghoshal

9

1. India’s Approach to the Indo-Pacific Anil Wadhwa

23

2. The Arc of Peace and Prosperity in the Indo-Pacific Region Sudhir T. Devare

27

3. Indo-Pacific Region: An Indian Perspective Rajiv Bhatia

33

4. India and Australia: Creating New Strategic Geometries in the Indo-Pacific David Brewster

49

5. Geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific and Disputes in the South China Sea Vice-Admiral Anup Singh (Retd)

59

6. Maritime Security in the Indo-Pacific Masahiro Akiyama

75

7. The US and Indian Ocean Region: Implications for India K.P. Vijayalakshmi

79

6  •  The Indo-Pacific Axis 8. The US Pivot to Asia: Implications for the Indo-Pacific Sujeet Samaddar

109

9. Japan and the Changing Geopolitics of the Indian Ocean: An Indian Perspective Rajaram Panda

119

10. Locating China in the Evolving Discourses on the Indo-Pacific Geopolitics Swaran Singh

141

11. India’s Role in Ensuring Stability and Security in the South China Sea Vo Xuan Vinh

155

12. Understanding the Indo-Pacific: Why Indonesia will be Critical? Shankari Sundararaman

177

13. Cultural and Economic Expansion on the Maritime Route Lokesh Chandra

197

List of Contributors

211

Index

213

T.N. CHATURVEDI

PRAKASHALAYA

Former Governor of Karnataka & Kera la Former Member of Parli ament (R .S) Former Comptroller & Auditor General of India

A-4, Sedor-I 7, Noida-201301, U.P. Tel. : 0 120-4214025

E-ma il : [email protected]

fOREWORD

India's links with the maritime countries of the Indo-Pacific oceanic region were established in t he ancient past, when social, cu ltural and econom ic associallons were formed thanks to Indian seafarers with royal patronage, who went from seaports In India to previously unknown lands. They laid the foundations of an enduring, if uneven and at t imes uneasy re lationship. These historical links took on new meaning in the 1990s, when, as a mailer of policy, India decided to deepen its trade links with Southeast Asian nations, to take advantage of their econom ic prosperity for the benefit of t he newlyopened Indian economy under Prime Minister PV Narasimhoa R(lo. Thi s Laok East

pollcy~

as It was known,

meant that India invested substantial political, diplomatic and economic efforts in a systematic and su$!ained manner in the region, especially by connecting with ASEAN . Th e results were dramatic, with. growth in trade shooting up by 41 per cent between 2009 and 2010. The Look Ea$! Po licy had a two-fold purpose. The fi rst was economiC, and the second, unstated one was to counter the power of China in the region. The countries in the region looked upo n India ;as a counter-

balance to China. Thus, a sec urity dimension appeared in t he Look East policy. The Look east Policy had initially focused upon Southeast Asia, but the security concerns brO (accessed on 6 June 2016). Speech of former defence minister, Manohar Parrikar, at the Shangri-La Dialogue, 4 June 2016. ‘By virtue of its geographical location, the Indo-Pacific is the crossroads of the world’s maritime traffic.’ Parrikar also held: ‘For India, located as we are at the centre of the Asian landmass astride the Indian Ocean, any reference to Asia implies its fullest geography ranging from the Suez to the shores of the Pacific.’ < http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=145975> (accessed on 7 June 2016). US Admiral Harry Harris has been using this term for a while. He used it, for example, at the Raisina Dialogue on 2 March 2016, while arguing that the Indian and Pacific oceans were the economic lifeblood that linked India, Australia, Asia, Oceania and the US together. Please see Rajeev Sharma, ‘Why the US Admiral’s Speech in Delhi Upset China’, rediff.com, 4 March 2016 < http://www.rediff.com/news/column/ why-this-us-admirals-speech-in-delhi-upset-china/20160304.htm> (accessed on 6 June 2016). This author employed the term at a regional conference in Bangkok on 25 August 2014, which evoked much interest and appreciation of ASEAN diplomats, especially of Thailand. Please see the text of my presentation entitled ‘The Future of Security in the Asia-Pacific’, in Rajiv K. Bhatia, India in Global Affairs: Perspectives from Sapru House (New Delhi: KW Publishers, 2015), p. 55. Dang Cam Fu, ‘PacNet#42-Regional Strategic Challenges and East Asia Summit’, CSIS, 11 May 2016: ‘Growing contestation among big powers, mostly between the US and China, has become a key strategic issue underlining the security environment and architecture in East Asia and the Asia-Pacific.’ For the latest details, please see ‘Aggressive China Triggers Asia Arms Race’, Times of India, 3 June 2016. Sanjeev Bhadauria, ‘Emerging India in the Asia Pacific’, in Kousar J. Azam (ed.), India in World Affairs: The Next Decade (New Delhi:

46  •  Rajiv Bhatia

11.

12. 13.

14. 15. 16.

17.

Manohar, 2016), p.439. Having stressed that it makes sense for India to cooperate with the US and Japan, the author states: ‘The US and Japanese interests also converge with India on this count and it is this dynamic that will go a long way in shaping the security architecture in the Pacific in the coming years.’ Weifeng Zhou, ‘China’s Growing Assertiveness in the South China Sea’, 5 November 2015, Real Instituto elcano Royal Institute: ‘China’s growing assertiveness over the sovereignty claims, US involvement in the South China Sea disputes and Sino-US strategic competition has made both the conflict and its resolution more complex.’ (accessed on 6 June 2016). These are Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. Wang Dong, ‘Is China Trying to Push the US out of East Asia?’, World Scientific, China Quarterly of International Strategic Studies, vol. 1, issue 1, April 2015. ‘A China-US competition and rivalry for regional dominance is perilous, and prone to conflict or even war.’ The author suggests that for ‘a more peaceful future,’ mutual accommodation, negotiation and re-negotiation of ‘the boundaries of their relative powers’ and ‘respective role in the future regional order is a must.’ http:// www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S2377740015500049> (accessed on 6 June 2016). Please see Jo Inge Bekkevold and Robert S. Ross, ‘Conclusion: New Leaders, Stronger China, Harder choices’, China in the Era of Xi Jinping, (Washington DC: Georgetown University Press, 2016), pp. 265-78. Please see C. Raja Mohan, ‘Obama, Trump and a Question in Japan’, The Indian Express, 17 May 2016. Captain Deepak Singhal, ‘Cooperative Machinery to Address NonTraditional Maritime Security Threats in the Indian Ocean Region’. The author states: ‘Although stability remains vital for IOR’s development, the region’s socio-economic diversity has resulted in different threat perceptions and lack of common understanding.’ He suggests that India should ‘invest in additional diplomatic and human capital to address maritime security concerns through the prism of “maritime multilateralism”.’ (accessed on 6 June 2016). Nehru, 'Nationalisation and Private Enterprise’, Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru. Second Series, vol. 5 (New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, 1987), pp. 385-96, 394. Nehru: ‘Anything that happens

Indo-Pacific Region  •  47

18. 19.

20.

21.

22.

in the whole Indian Ocean region, affects and is affected by India. It simply cannot help it.’ Madhav Das Nalapat, ‘The Indian Ocean in a “Modi-fied” World’, Modi and the World: The Ring View Inside Out, (New Delhi: Bloomsbury Publishing India, 2016), p. 161. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s address at international conference 'India and Indian Ocean: Renewing the Maritime Trade and Civilizational Linkages’ in Bhubaneswar, 20 March 2015. Swaraj spelt out the reasons for the salience of the Indian Ocean as follows: ‘Today, the Indian Ocean carries one half of world’s container shipments, one-third of the bulk cargo traffic and two-thirds of the oil shipments, though three-fourths of this traffic goes to other regions of the world. 90% of our trade by volume and 90% of our oil imports take place through sea. We have a long coastline of 7,500 km, 1,200 islands and a 2.4 million square kilometres of Exclusive Economic Zone.’ (accessed on 6 June 2016). Yogendra Kumar, Diplomatic Dimension of Maritime Challenges for India in the 21st Century (New Delhi: Pentagon Press, 2015), p. 94. He states: ‘Indian Navy’s share of the defence budget has moved from 6.8 per cent in the 1980s to – after stabilizing over the past decade or so – 18 per cent in fiscal 2013-14, and is expected to keep pace with its growing importance in the government’s strategic thinking.’ Prime minister's remarks at the commissioning of offshore patrol vessel (OPV) Barracuda in Mauritius, 12 March 2015.