Date: 06/09/2022

Relevance: GS-2: India and its neighborhood- relations, Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests

Key Phrases: Indo Pacific Ocean, Engage America, Manage China, Cultivate Europe, Reassure Russia, Bring in Japan. China: A Threat or a Challenge.

Context:

• Recently, the External Affairs Minister of India said that talking about the Indian Ocean and not the Pacific Ocean when discussing India's maritime interest shows a limitation of thinking. India should go beyond this historical line of thinking.
• In this context, let us focus our discussion on India’s maritime interest in the Indo-Pacific region.

Background

• The Indo Pacific is one of the new concepts and approaches thrown up by the changing world.
• With various countries and international forums using the term Indo Pacific in their official statements, it is gaining currency in recent times.
• The idea that India should not interfere with the issues of other countries is a kind of "dogma" which should change.
• It is possible that we did not have the capacity and it was not in our interest in the 1950s and 1960s, but now we have become the fifth largest economy. We should change our thinking according to our capacity.
• Being the fifth largest economy, India should display confidence, which is lacking because of our habits that keep us tied up.
• More than 50% of our trade goes towards the East, towards the Pacific Ocean. The line between the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean is only on the map, but there is no such thing in reality.
• We should go beyond the historical lines in our thinking, because our interest has increased. Indo-Pacific is a new strategic concept going on in the world.
• We have reached that level where we should maintain relations with everyone as much as we can to take forward our own interest because India's progress in a way becomes a criterion for us.
• We should keep our own interest with everyone to move forward.

'Sabka Saath and Sabka Vishwas' in India's foreign policy

• Engage America
• Manage China
• Cultivate Europe
• Reassure Russia
• Bring in Japan

Significance of Indo-Pacific Region

• It has more than half of the world’s population with 2 billion people living under democratic rule.
• It generates one third of the world’s economic output, highest in the world.
• Three important allies of the USA - Japan, South Korea and Australia are located here.
• More than one-third of the foreign trade of the world takes place in this region.
• The world’s largest economies are located in the Indo-Pacific region - China, India, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand, Australia, Taiwan, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Multiple interpretations of the term Indo Pacific

• India considers the region as an inclusive, open, integrated and balanced space and continuously emphasizes on strategic inter-connections, common challenges and opportunities between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.
• The U.S. considers it to be a free and open Indo-Pacific, highlighting the importance of rules or norms of conduct in the region, thus trying to contain the role of China in the region.
• The ASEAN countries look at Indo-Pacific as a consociation model, thus bringing in China not only for the sake of giving it some stakeholdership but looking for ways to cooperate with it in the region.

Major Challenges in the Indo-Pacific Region

• The region has been under pressure, South Korea and Japan face regular nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.
• China challenges international maritime laws in the South China Sea and confronts Japan over the Senkaku Islands dispute.
• Nations such as China and Taiwan are involved in the dispute over the Spratly Islands - vast reserves of oil and natural gas.
• India is a part of the Quad, but it is the only country in the group that shares a land border with China which is laced with disputes.
• US initiatives such as the Blue Dot Network and the Build Back Better World (B3W) Initiative have made little headway in changing the region’s infrastructural needs.

China : A Threat or a Challenge

• China has been a threat to the Asia Pacific countries and is posing a threat to Indian interests in the Indian Ocean as well.
• China holds Hambantota port of Sri Lanka which is closer to Indian shores.
• China is supplying military equipment to India’s neighbors and thus colonize the region-
  • Submarines to Myanmar
  • Frigates to Sri Lanka
  • Equipment to Bangladesh and Thailand
• Few ASEAN members have been under Chinese influence and thus pose a threat to erode ASEAN’s solidarity w.r.t. the concept of Indo-Pacific.
• Also, China is ASEAN’s largest trading partner and can hardly be sidelined by the entire grouping which further threatens India’s relations with the grouping.
• India’s presence is necessary even for ASEAN countries to balance China in the region.
• Despite several differences, the interests of India-China on some issues such as globalization, climate change etc. match. Both are members of international groupings such as BRICS, SCO etc.
• China therefore is viewed as more of a challenge to India’s stand in the Indo-Pacific than a threat to its significance in the region.

Learnings from China and India’s Journey so far

• China is India's super neighbour and the biggest neighbour, when we look at its power, its economy, where it has reached, its development.
• We also have to see if there is a lesson for us in its progress, and its impact on us, on our interest, and its influence on our other neighbors.
• China's economy is more than four times our own. Our thinking should be competitive rather than negative.
• In the last 75 years, India has been hurt by partition, delay in carrying out economic reforms, and a gap between the two nuclear tests.
• These three factors are in a way for us something whose impact is seen now. How do we go ahead keeping them in mind should be a big part of our strategy.
• India needs to stick to its vision of the Indian Ocean i.e. SAGAR - Security and Growth for All in the Region.

Source: The Hindu

Mains Question:

Q. ith special focus on the Indo-Pacific region, discuss the prospects and challenges for India to become a regional power. [150 Words].