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      Indo-US Naval Cooperation: Geo-Strategic Ramifications for the Region

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            Abstract

            Rebalancing in Asia and India's strategic location has provided it with the benefit of being key ally of the United States (US). The convergence of interests of the two states culminated into a maritime partnership providing an opportunity to Indian Navy to develop its maritime capabilities for carrying out blue water missions. Such naval build up and alliance formation in the Indo-Pacific Region (IPR) will be counterproductive, creating security dilemma for the regional states by threatening their national and strategic interests. Contrary to the assumption that such a development will create balance of power in the region, there are threats that these developments may cause conflicts, confrontation, and maritime cold war in the region. The study seeks to explore such dangers. It stresses that sustaining peace at sea hinges upon discouraging an arms race in maritime domain and promoting engagement and collaboration.

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            Author and article information

            Journal
            10.2307/j50009730
            polipers
            Policy Perspectives
            Pluto Journals
            1812-1829
            1812-7347
            1 January 2019
            : 16
            : 1 ( doiID: 10.13169/polipers.16.issue-1 )
            : 41-59
            Affiliations
            The author is a Research Officer at the Institute of Policy Studies, Islamabad.
            Article
            polipers.16.1.0041
            10.13169/polipers.16.1.0041
            940cdeb9-7ed3-4a85-a9fd-96a28518aaaf
            © 2019, Institute of Policy Studies

            All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

            History
            Custom metadata
            eng

            Education,Religious studies & Theology,Social & Behavioral Sciences,Law,Economics
            Maritime Cooperation,Indo-Pacific Region (IPR),Sea Lines of Communications (SLOCs),Maritime Security,Indo-US Relations

            Footnotes

            1. Walter C. Ladwig III, “Indian Military Modernization and Conventional Deterrence in South Asia,” The Journal of Strategic Studies 38, no.5 (2015): 729–772, DOI:10.1080/01402390.2015.1014473.

            2. Office of the Press Secretary, White House, Government of the United States, “US-India Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region,” press release, January 25, 2015, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/01/25/us-india-joint-strategic-vision-asia-pacific-and-indian-ocean-region.

            3. Harsh V. Pant, review of Forged in Crisis: India and the United States Since 1947, by Rudra Chaudhuri, Asian Affairs 46, no. 2 (2015): 341–342 (342), https://doi.org/10.1080/03068374.2015.1037640.

            4. Ibid.

            5. Lyn Gardner, “Stolen Island: The Shameful Story of Diego Garcia Hits the Stage,” Guardian, February 15, 2012, https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/feb/15/diego-garcia-few-man-fridays.

            6. A. Z. Hilali, “Contemporary Geopolitics of Indian Ocean and Great Power Competition over Gwadar,” in Major Powers’ Interests in Indian Ocean: Challenges and Options for Pakistan, ed. Mushir Anwar (Islamabad: Islamabad Policy Research Institute, 2014), 138, http://www.ipripak.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Indian-ocean.pdf.

            7. The Straits of Malacca and Singapore are one of the most vital SLOCs in the world, constituting the main passage from the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea. China is heavily dependent on Middle Eastern oil, with up to 80 percent of its energy supply passing through the Straits. President Hu Jintao identified the need to alleviate what he termed China's ‘Malacca Dilemma.’ Therefore, China is developing several major new routes as part of BRI, that are likely to reduce China's over-dependence on the Malaccan Straits as a conduit for oil imports.

            8. White House, GoUS, The National Security Strategy of the United States of America (Government of the United States, 2002), https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/nsc/nss/2002/.

            9. “The Obama Administration's Pivot to Asia - A Conversation with Assistant Secretary Kurt Campbell,” YouTube video, 25:24, posted by Foreign Policy Initiative, December 13, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2c8L5XwCvI.

            10. Christopher Layne, “China’s Challenge to US Hegemony,” Current History 107, no. 705 (2008): 13–18, http://acme.highpoint.edu/~msetzler/IR/IRreadingsbank/chinauscontain.ch08-6.pdf.

            11. John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, “The Case for Offshore Balancing-A Superior US Grand Strategy,” Foreign Affairs 95, no. 4 (2016): 70–83.

            12. Ibid.

            13. Michael R. Pompeo, “A Foreign Policy from the Founding” (speech, Beverly Hills, May 11, 2019), US Department of State, https://www.state.gov/remarks-at-the-claremont-institute-40th-anniversary-gala-a-foreign-policy-from-the-founding/.

            14. Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, “Deepening US-India Maritime Ties in Focus with Navy Chief Visit,” Diplomat, May 15, 2019, https://thediplomat.com/2019/05/deepening-us-india-maritime-ties-in-focus-with-navy-chief-visit/. For further details, please see the section on Contours of Naval Cooperation.

            15. Patryk Kugiel, India's Soft Power: A New Foreign Policy Strategy, 1st ed. (New York: Routledge, 2017), 55.

            16. William Jefferson Clinton and Atal Behari Vajpayee, “Joint Statement on United States-India Relations: A Vision for the 21st Century” (statement, New Delhi, March 21, 2000), US Government Publishing Office, https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PPP-2000-bookl/pdf/PPP-2000-bookl-doc-pg502.pdf.

            17. George W. Bush, “A Distinctly American Internationalism” (speech, California, November 19, 1999), Mount Holyoke College, https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/bush/wspeech.htm.

            18. Office of the Press Secretary, White House, Government of the United States, “Joint Statement by President Obama and Prime Minister Singh of India,” press release, November 8, 2010, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2010/11/08/joint-statement-president-obama-and-prime-minister-singh-india.

            19. Donald Trump, “Full Texts of Donald Trump's Speech on South Asia Policy” (speech, Arlington, August 22, 2017), Hindu, https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/full-texts-of-donald-trumps-speech-on-south-asia-policy/articlel9538424.ece.

            20. White House, GoUS, National Security Strategy of United States of America (Government of the United States, 2017), 46, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-0905.pdf.

            21. Alyssa Ayres, “The US Indo-Pacific Strategy Needs More Indian Ocean” (brief, Council on Foreign Relations, 2018), https://www.cfr.org/expert-brief/us-indo-pacific-strategy-needs-more-indian-ocean.

            22. “2018- A Landmark Year for India-US Strategic Relationship,” Business Today, December 30, 2018, https://www.businesstoday.in/top-story/2018-a-landmark-year-for-india-us-strategic-relationship/story/305334.html.

            23. Ankit Panda, “Strategic Trade Authorization: A Fillip for India's ‘Major Defense Partner’ Status with the US,” Diplomat, August 1, 2018, https://thediplomat.com/2018/08/strategic-trade-authorization-a-filip-for-indias-major-defense-partner-status-with-the-us/.

            24. K. Yhome, ed., “US-India Joint Strategic Vision for Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean Region,” South China Sea Monitor, February 2, 2015, https://www.orfonline.org/research/us-india-joint-strategic-vision-for-asiapacific-and-indian-ocean-region/.

            25. Project Mausam, an initiative of Ministry of Culture India, aims at reestablishing India's trade and cultural relations with ancient trade partners along littoral states of the Indian Ocean, in order to restore an ‘Indian Ocean World’ stretching from east Africa, Arabian Peninsula, southern Iran to the major South Asian countries and then to Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. It focuses on monsoon patterns, cultural routes and maritime landscapes. The project has been termed by analysts as a response to China's Maritime Silk Road Initiative.

            26. G. Padmaja, “Modi’s Maritime Diplomacy: A Strategic Opportunity,” Maritime Affairs: Journal of the National Maritime Foundation of India 11, no. 2 (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09733159.2015.1112053.

            27. Harry B. Harris, Jr. “Raisina Dialogue Remarks-Let‘s Be Ambitious Together” (speech, New Delhi, March 2, 2016), US-Indo Pacific Command, http://www.pacom.mil/Media/Speeches-Testimony/Article/683842/raisina-dialogue-remarks-lets-be-ambitious-together/.

            28. Ashley J. Tellis, “Making Aspiration: Aiding India's Next-Generation Aircraft Carrier” (brief, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, D.C., 2015), http://carnegieendowment.org/files/making_waves_brief.pdf.

            29. Jim Garamone, “Carter: US-India Relationship Will Define 21st Century” (US Department of Defense, Government of the United States, 2016), https://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/719999/carter-us-india-relationship-will-define-21st-century/.

            30. Ibid.

            31. Office of the Press Secretary, White House, GoUS, “US-India Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region.”

            32. Mercy A. Kuo, “The Origin of ‘Indo-Pacific’ as Geopolitical Construct-Insights from Gurpreet Khurana,” Diplomat, January 25, 2018, https://thediplomat.com/2018/01/the-origin-of-indo-pacific-as-geopolitical-construct/.

            33. Rex Tillerson, “Defining Our Relationship with India for the Next Century” (speech, Washington, D.C., October 18, 2017), Centre for Strategic and International Studies, https://csis-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/publication/171018_An_Address_by_U.S._Secretary_of_State_Rex_Tillerson.pdf.

            34. Ibid.

            35. Ibid.

            36. Tellis, “Making Aspiration: Aiding India's Next-Generation Aircraft Carrier.”

            37. Dinakar Peri, “Navy to Use US Aircraft Launch System in Ship,” Hindu, November 5, 2017, https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/navy-to-use-us-aircraft-launch-system-in-ship/articlel9988220.ece.

            38. Robert Farley, “Why No Nation Should Mess with India's Aircraft Carriers,” The Buzz, February 19, 2019, https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/why-no-nation-should-mess-indias-aircraft-carriers-44952.

            39. US Embassy & Consulates in India, Government of the United States, “India-United States Joint Statement on the Visit of Secretary of Defense Carter to India,” press release, April 10–13, 2016, https://in.usembassy.gov/india-united-states-joint-statement-visit-secretary-defense-carter-india-april-10-13-2016/.

            40. Rajesh Roy and Nancy A. Youssef, “US, India Sign Military-Intelligence-Sharing Agreement,” Wall Street Journal, September 6, 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-india-sign-military-intelligence-sharing-agreement-1536232640.

            41. Vishal Thapar, “US Hard-Sells Nuclear Powered Carrier to India,” Sunday Guardian, May 2, 2015, http://www.sunday-guardian.com/news/us-hard-sells-nuclear-powered-carrier-to-india.

            42. Jeff Smith and Alex Werman, “Assessing US-India Defense Relations: The Technological Handshake,” Diplomat, October 6, 2016, https://thediplomat.com/2016/10/assessing-us-india-defense-relations-the-technological-handshake/.

            43. Ibid.

            44. Tellis, “Making Aspiration: Aiding India's Next-Generation Aircraft Carrier.”

            45. Carter was the strongest proponent of bolstering Indo-US defense ties during his tenure. For instance, he established India Rapid Reaction Cell in Pentagon to boost Indo US defense trade under DTTI45; even DTTI was led by him as Deputy Secretary Defense in 2012.

            46. Dinakar Peri, “India, US Hold First Maritime Security Dialogue,” Hindu, May 17, 2016, http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-us-hold-first-maritime-security-dialogue/article8608442.ece.

            47. “India, US Hold Round 3 of Maritime Security Dialogue,” Indian Express, May 3, 2018, https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-us-hold-round-3-of-maritime-security-dialogue-5160707/.

            48. Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, “The COMCASA Question in US-India Military Relations,” Diplomat, September 4, 2018, https://thediplomat.com/2018/09/the-comcasa-question-in-us-india-military-relations/.

            49. Jeff Smith, “COMCASA: Another Step Forward for the United States and India,” Diplomat, September 11, 2018, https://thediplomat.com/2018/09/comcasa-another-step-forward-for-the-united-states-and-india/.

            50. Jeremy Maxie, “China Threat Drives US - India Strategic Handshake, Forbes, June 7, 2016, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremymaxie/2016/06/07/china-threat-drives-us-india-strategic-handshake/#384725246c84; and Gurpeet S. Khurana, “Indo-US Logistics Agreement LEMOA: An Assessment” (essay, National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi, 2016), http://www.maritimeindia.org/View%20Profile/636089093519640938.pdf.

            51. Dinakar Peri, “What is LEMOA?” Hindu, August 30, 2016, http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/What-is-LEMOA/articlel5604647.ece.

            52. Ibid.

            53. Peri, “What is LEMOA?”

            54. Khurana, “Indo-US Logistics Agreement LEMOA.”

            55. Rajagopalan, “The COMCASA Question in US-India Military Relations.”

            56. Ankit Panda, “What the Recently Concluded US-India COMCASA Means,” Diplomat, September 9, 2018, https://thediplomat.com/2018/09/what-the-recently-concluded-us-india-comcasa-means/.

            57. Smith, “COMCASA: Another Step Forward for the United States and India,” Diplomat.

            58. David Scott, “India’s Aspirations and Strategy for the Indian Ocean - Securing the Waves?” The Journal of Strategic Studies 36, no. 4 (2013): 484–511, https://doi.org/10.1080/01402390.2012.728134.

            59. “First Indo-US Tri-Services Exercise Likely to Include Special Forces of Both Countries,” Economic Times, October 14, 2018, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/first-indo-us-tri-services-exercise-likely-to-include-special-forces-of-both-countries/articleshow/66204419.cms.

            60. Prashanth Parameswaran, “The Malabar Exercise: An Emerging Platform for Indo-Pacific Cooperation?” Diplomat, June 12, 2016, http://thediplomat.com/2016/06/the-malabar-exercise-an-emerging-platform-for-indo-pacific-cooperation/.

            61. “Malabar Naval Exercise to Feature Largest Warships of India, US, Japan,” Economic Times, July 12, 2018, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/59479171.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst.

            62. Layne, “China's Challenge to US Hegemony.”

            63. Ibid.

            64. Nan Tian, Aude Fleurant, Alexandra Kuimova, Pieter D. Wezeman and Siemon T. Wezeman, “Trends in World Military Expenditure- 2018,” fact sheet (Solna: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 2019), https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/2019-04/fs_1904_milex_2018.pdf.

            65. Nicholas Borroz and Hunter Marston, “Washington Should Stop Militarizing the Pacific,” New York Times, October 9, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/10/opinion/washington-should-stop-militarizing-the-pacific.html.

            66. Mohd Aminul Karim, “21st Century Maritime Power-Politics in the Indian Ocean Region with Special Reference to the Bay of Bengal,” Pacific Focus: Inha Journal of International Studies 32, no. 1 (2017): 56–85 (67), https://doi.org/10.llll/pafo.12090.

            67. Borroz and Marston, “Washington Should Stop Militarizing the Pacific.”

            68. Quoted in R. Sidda Goud and Manisha Mookherjee, eds., China in Indian Ocean Region (New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 2015), 17; and K.V. Prasad, “India Should Initiate Discussions with China on Security,” Hindu, December 17, 2016, https://www.thehindu.com/news/India-should-initiate-discussions-with-China-on-security/articlel6880893.ece.

            69. Joseph S. Nye, Jr., “Only China Can Contain China,” Huff Post, March 11, 2015, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-nye/china-contain-china_b_6845588.html.

            70. Layne, “China’s Challenge to US Hegemony,” 18.

            71. Atul Aneja, “China’s Silk Road Diplomacy Willing to Enmesh India's Projects,” Hindu, April 6, 2015, http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/china-silk-road-india-mausam-spice-route/article7073804.ece.

            72. Arun Prakash, “Crafting a Strategy for India's Maritime Security,” in The New Arthashastra: A Security Strategy for India, ed. Gurmeet Kanwal (Noida: Harper Collins Publishers, 2016),165.

            73. Shiv Shankar Menon, “Maritime Imperatives of Indian Foreign Policy,” Maritime Affairs: Journal of the National Maritime Foundation of India 5, no. 2 (2009).

            74. Robert D. Kaplan, Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power (New York: Random House, 2010).

            75. “Russia Supports China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Project,” Gulf News, December 17, 2016, https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/pakistan/russia-supports-china-pakistan-economic-corridor-project-1.1947832.

            76. “Chinese Connectivity Projects Across the World Have National Security Element: Mike Pompeo,” Economic Times, March 29, 2019, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/chinese-connectivity-projects-across-the-world-have-national-security-element-mike-pompeo/articleshow/68629109.cms; and Montgomery Blah, “China’s Belt and Road Initiative and India's Concerns,” Strategic Analysis 42, no. 4 (2018): 313–332 (318), https://doi.org/10.1080/09700161.2018.1482631.

            77. For instance, there are concerns over the recent rift between the two countries on the issue of trade tariffs, which is the result of Trump's trade policy across the world.

            78. Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, “Deepening US-India Maritime Ties in Focus with Navy Chief Visit.”

            79. “44 Indian Security Personnel Killed in Held Kashmir Attack,” Dawn, February 15, 2019, https://www.dawn.com/news/1463946. On February 14, 2019, Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed as a jeep with 350kg of explosives rammed a bus in a large security convoy at Pulwama, in the Indian-Held Kashmir. India claimed that Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) group had accepted the responsibility of the attack and tried to link the incident with Pakistan, which was vigorously denied by Pakistan.

            80. Helen Regan, Nikhil Kumar, Adeel Raja and Swati Gupta, “Pakistan Says It Shot Down Two Indian Jets as Kashmir Border Crisis Deepens,” CNN, February 28, 2019, https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/27/india/india-pakistan-strikes-escalation-intl/index.html; and “No Pakistani Citizen Killed in Balakot Strike, Admits Indian Minister,” Samaa TV, April 18, 2019, https://www.samaa.tv/news/2019/04/no-pakistani-citizen-killed-in-balakot-strike-admits-indian-minister/. After the Pulwama attack, India carried out an airstrike and violated Pakistan's airspace on February 26, 2019 over the disputed border region of Kashmir. In response Pakistan downed two Indian planes in Kashmir the next day and also took an Indian Air Force Pilot Abhinandan into custody, who was later released by Pakistan, as a gesture of peace.

            81. “Pakistan Navy Says It Stopped Indian Sub from Entering its Waters,” Japan Times, March 6, 2019, https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/03/06/asia-pacific/pakistan-navy-says-stopped-indian-sub-entering-waters/.

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