Need for a Substantive Maritime Dialogue between India and China

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.