It
is quite unambiguous that after years of alienation and disenchantment, India
has accorded high priority in engaging its immediate and extended neighbors.
Inviting SAARC heads of the states to his swearing in ceremony; his first visit
to Bhutan and then Nepal as Prime Minister; and now a visit to three key Island
nations in the Indian Ocean, Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri Lanka between 11 and
14 March 2015 are all manifestations of Prime Minister Modi’s highly assertive foreign
policy. Is the alienation and disenchantment the sole reason? Did India take
its land and maritime neighborhood for granted for the reason that India
shared very strong historical and cultural bonds with them?
Analysts are of
the view that India has started to look inward, for she has discovered that the
very reasons mentioned above has provided space for China to engage aggressively
with them economically and strategically. It appears that the continental mindset
in India is undergoing a tremendous change, and there is a strong rationale for
developing blue economy as well as blue water naval capabilities. This is amply
clear with Modi’s visit to Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri Lanka between 11 and
14 March; the visits are taking place after a period of 33, 10 and 28 years respectively
by an Indian Prime Minister to these nations.
Perhaps taking cues
from the Chinese diplomacy in the Indian Ocean region, India has signed a
series of agreements with the island nations ranging from developing blue
economy, developmental strategies to maritime security. India secured
infrastructure development rights for two islands in the region - Assumption
from Seychelles and Agalega from Mauritius. Giving a fillip to strategic
cooperation, Modi also launched a Coastal Surveillance Radar Project in
Seychelles. Besides, India also signed an agreement for hydrographical survey for maritime cooperation
with Seychelles. It is believed that Seychelles, which currently is an observer,
will soon become a full partner in the maritime security cooperation between
India, Maldives and Sri Lanka.
In Mauritius,
India signed five agreements that included a memorandum of understanding (MoU)
in the field of 'Ocean Economy', sea and air transportation facilities at
Agalega Island, traditional medicine and homoeopathy, cultural cooperation
between 2015 and 2018, and import of fresh mango from India. India also offered
to establish a second cyber city in Mauritius, and a 500 million US dollars concessional
line of credit to Mauritius for improving civilian infrastructure.
The last leg of
Prime Minister’s visit, Sri Lanka, would be keenly observed by
analysts in India and especially in China, for China’s hard and soft infrastructural
development in the island nation has
raised concerns in India. Analysts believe that China’s forays in the
Indian Ocean, has eroded the myth of Indian Ocean being India’s Ocean. The
docking of China’s submarines at Sri Lankan ports ruffled quite a few feathers
in the security corridors in India. It appears that the Tamil issue that
hijacked India’s Sri Lanka policy has long been abandoned with the ascend of
Modi to power, or at least his government will not allow it to impact on the
bilateral relations. The electoral victory of Sri Lankan President Maithripala
Sirisena, who chose India for his first ever foreign visit, is believed to
augur well for India-Sri Lanka relations.
It is obvious
that if China’s increased footprints in the Indian Ocean has thrown new
challenges to India's maritime security, in the same vein, India’s ‘Act East
Policy’ under Modi, its increasingly intimate economic and security ties with
ASEAN, and especially a “Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia Pacific and Indian
Ocean Region’ signed together with the US, has made China apprehensive about
India’s role in the Pacific. In the view of these overlapping interests and
soaring maritime ambitions of both the countries, it is time that a substantive maritime
dialogue is initiated by India and China, the dialogue while paving way for the
establishment of a series of mechanisms to enhance cooperation in the high seas,
will also prevent the occurrence of any untoward incident that may flare up
nationalistic sentiments on both sides.
