Increasing Indian Strategic Maritime Importance | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly - UPSC PDF Download

Shift from continental strategies to the maritime sphere:

• Contrary to the constraints posed by China-Pakistan collaboration in the continental arena, the maritime domain offers India ample opportunities for coalition building, rule establishment, and strategic exploration.
• While Euro-American interest in India's land borders with China and Pakistan is minimal, the maritime sphere has garnered significant attention, especially with the emergence of the 'Indo-Pacific' concept. Great powers are increasingly invested in the maritime realm, as evidenced by Germany's recent Indo-Pacific guidelines following France's strategy introduced last year.
• In the wake of Beijing's assertive actions in the South China Sea, there is a growing willingness among Euro-American powers, as well as regional countries like Australia and Japan, to counter Chinese unilateralism. This presents a unique chance for New Delhi to expand its influence and potentially thwart Chinese ambitions in the region.
• The maritime domain holds greater significance for China due to its extensive trade through oceanic routes and the intricate geopolitics surrounding maritime chokepoints that could disrupt this trade. This makes maritime endeavors more critical for China than opportunistic land acquisition attempts in the Himalayas.
• Organizations like the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) can offer India significant leverage, serving as a key transit route between the Indian and Pacific Oceans and intersecting with both Chinese and Indian strategic interests. This further fuels India's Act East Policy and strengthens integration with ASEAN.
• Various conceptualizations and interpretations culminate in the creation of better multilateral platforms for India with like-minded partners in the region, such as the idea of establishing the 'Quad' or a quadrilateral partnership with the USA, Japan, and Australia. A strategic vision for the future is essential to navigate this renewed geopolitical scenario and enable India to make its mark in the evolving global maritime landscape.

Importance of Indian Ocean for India:

• Long Maritime Boundary: India's extensive coastline of over 7,500 km naturally drives the need for enhanced maritime security.
• Securing Sea Lanes of Communication: Three major Sea Lanes Of Communication (SLOCS) in the Indian Ocean play a crucial role in energy security and economic prosperity.
• Indian Ocean region transports 75% of the world's maritime trade and 50% of daily global oil consumption.

Other Advantages of having a robust maritime strategy:

• Protection from sea-based threats to India’s territorial integrity.
• Ensuring Stability in India’s maritime neighbourhood.
• Creation, development, and sustenance of a ‘Blue’ Economy, incorporating
• The preservation, promotion, pursuit and protection of offshore infrastructure and maritime resources within and beyond the Maritime Zones of India (MZI).
• The promotion, protection and safety of India’s overseas and coastal seaborne trade and her Sea Lines of Communication (SLOCs), and, the ports that constitute the nodes of this trade; and Support to marine scientific research, including that in Antarctica and the Arctic.
• The provision of holistic maritime security — i.e., freedom from threats arising ‘in’ or ‘from’ the sea.
• Provision of support succour and extrication-options to the Indian Diaspora.
• Obtaining and retaining a regionally favourable geostrategic maritime-position.

Conclusion:

• India faces complex and diverse maritime security challenges and opportunities.
• Despite being the smallest of the three armed forces, the Indian Navy, complemented by the Indian Coastguard, has earned a commendable profile in the extended Indian Ocean region.
• A focused maritime strategy based on India's principal maritime interests is crucial, recognizing that the country's geo-economic goals in this century are increasingly tied to the maritime domain.