Focus on naval cooperation during Rumsfeld visit

By C. Raja Mohan

NEW DELHI, NOV. 4. Several issues relating to the military operations against Afghanistan and the stability of Pakistan are likely to figure prominently in the talks between the Defence Minister, Mr. George Fernandes, and the visiting U.S. Defence Secretary, Mr. Donald Rumsfeld, tomorrow.

But the two leaders are also likely to look to the future and decide on steps that will help build an enduring Indo- U.S. defence partnership. One issue of long-term significance stands out - greater Indo-U.S. naval cooperation to promote peace and stability in the Indian Ocean. Expansive naval engagement between India and the U.S. would have been unthinkable a few years ago. During the 1970s and 1980s, there was strong support in India for the idea of a ``zone of peace'' in the Indian Ocean that called on the great powers to withdraw their military presence from the region. But that was rooted in political concerns about U.S.- Soviet rivalry in the Indian Ocean.

But today, we are on the verge of a historic rapprochement between Washington and Moscow. The principal obstacle to peace and security in the Indian Ocean is not ``great power rivalry''. The American, Russian and the Chinese militaries today have more intensive military consultations among themselves than India has with any one of them in the Indian Ocean. The real challenge for regional security is the prospect for political chaos.

The potential failure of states in the region has created the space for the rise of extremist ideas, which, in turn, nurture violence and terrorism and threaten one of the most volatile and energy-rich regions of the world.

India's earlier calls on great powers to withdraw from the Indian Ocean, were seen by many, in particular her neighbours, as an thinly-veiled ambition in New Delhi to exercise hegemony in the region.

But India never had and is unlikely to have in the foreseeable future the power to enforce stability and order in the region on its own.

India can achieve the very important objectives of regional stability, free flow of energy resources, and the security of the sea lanes only in cooperation with other great powers like the U.S. This was realised instinctively by Indira Gandhi, who lifted restrictions against port calls by American warships in the early 1980s. Rajiv Gandhi gave greater access to the U.S. Navy in the late 1980s, during the Gulf war between Iraq and Iran. Indo-U.S. naval interaction moved in fits and starts after the Cold War and was constrained by the sanctions imposed by the U.S. after the nuclear tests in May 1998. Those sanctions have now been lifted by the U.S. President, Mr. George W. Bush, recently.

Far more important is the change of mindset in Washington. Unlike the Clinton administration, which viewed India through the narrow prism of nuclear proliferation and Kashmir, the Bush administration has promised to engage India on the much larger canvas of the Indian Ocean and Asian balance of power.

In his very first testimony to the U.S. Congress last February, the U.S. Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, talked about strengthening India's hand to play a much larger role in promoting peace and stability in the Indian Ocean littoral. Mr. Rumsfeld and Mr. Fernandes now have an opportunity to translate that into a reality in the context of the current war against international terrorism.

They can agree on a much larger Indian role in securing the sea lanes, patrolling such choke points as the Malacca straits, and facilitating the naval operations of the international coalition in the Indian Ocean. Greater cooperation with the U.S. would also open the door for a similar Indian engagement with the other regional navies from Japan, Australia and key South East Asian and Gulf nations. It could lead towards cooperative naval security in the Indian Ocean with a significant military profile for India.

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