India to offer ALHs to Indonesia, this time with training, maintenance package

New Delhi, March 24: India is offering its indigenously-built Advanced Light Helicopters (ALHs) Dhruv to Indonesia but taking out a leaf from its experience in Latin America it will be clubbing maintenance and training in the package as well.

If Indian defence diplomacy gets through the deal the ALHs will be operating in China’s backyard and it would be nothing sort of a coup with the Indian-built helicopters operating from Chinese background.

A Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official told me, “We will be making our offer for ALHs to Indonesia and this time with training and maintenance package as our experience in Ecuador has taught us.” ALHs, made by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and supplied to Ecuador, had crashed bringing a bad name to the home-built choppers.

India does not have a defence export policy but it does have a secret list of countries that it will not be selling the defence equipment to. Recently, India has been pushing its defence diplomacy to help the countries in the South-East Asian region – namely Indonesia and Vietnam – to develop potent armed forces. So far the defence element of cooperation between these countries have been largely focussed on training armed forces personnel and joint wargames.

New Alignments, not non-alignment for Indian foreign policy

New Delhi, September 6: The new alignment in India’s engagement with the World will get an evident twist this month as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while giving the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) Summit a miss; will be cementing New Delhi’s ties with the South East Asian countries as he head to second country in the region in a week. 

After making a pit stop at Vietnam enroute to G-20 summit in the Eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, will be embarking on a visit to Lao PDR on September 7th where he will be attending the 14th ASEAN-India Summit and the 11th East Asia Summit.

“This will be the third ASEAN (The Association of the Southeast Asian Nations) Summit to be attended by Prime Minister Modi. ASEAN is central to India’s Act East policy,” Secretary East Preeti Saran said while elaborating on the importance of the event.

The renewed diplomatic focus on the Mekong sub-region (comprising of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) stems from the fact that it links the Bay of Bengal with the South China Sea through land. The South China Sea is pivotal to Indian interests as 50 percent of its trade passes through its sea lanes. The Mekong sub-region, thus, has become an area of geopolitical rivalry between India and China. 

The Prime Minister will also attend the East Asia Summit of which it has been one of the co-founders. Connectivity and trade will be high on agenda.

The Laos visit will means that the Prime Minister has traveled to all the countries in the Mekong sub-region, barring Cambodia. The region has taken a centre-stage in India’s foreign policy as evident by the Prime Minister’s whirlwind tours to the countries – he reached Hanoi on night of September 2^nd and left for Hangzhou on September 3rd evening. He returned to India on September 5^th evening and shall be reaching Laos on September 7^th.

The visits have been highlighted as the Prime Minister will not be attending the NAM Summit in a departure from the tradition of Indian Prime Ministers attending the event. Top diplomats have been talking about how G-20 is a better representative of the present day world over without explicitly denouncing the relevance of NAM, founded during the Cold War era.

The South Block mandarins have been trying to downplay the turn of events citing Prime Minister Modi’s chock-o-block itinerary for foreign visits. But the subtle signal does indicate a major shift the way India will be conducting its diplomacy.

China remains intransigent, issues White Paper on South China Sea

New Delhi, July 13: A day after the International Court’s judgment favoured Philippines’ claim in the South China Sea, an intransigent China issued a White Paper contending that its sovereignty over the region has been established in the course of 2000 years of history. Beijing also pointed fingers at the United States for stoking tension in the region.

China also threatened that if pushed to a corner it will set up an air defence zone over the South China Sea. "On whether China will set up an air defense zone over the South China Sea, what we have to make clear first is that China has the right to... But whether we need one in the South China Sea depends on the level of threats we face," Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told reporters in Beijing, adding that China hoped to return to bilateral talks with Manila.

On Tuesday the International Tribunal at Hague dealt a blow to China’s maritime aspirations as it held Beijing guilty for breaching the archipelago country’s sovereignty; and also of damaging the marine environment by building artificial islands. The International Court’s are legally binding, but China has made it clear that it does not have any intentions of complying with the decision even at the risk of becoming an international outlaw.

"China will take all necessary measures to protect its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests," the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily said in a front page commentary on Wednesday.

South China Sea has overlapping territorial claims from Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. The smaller countries have been afraid that China would turn South China Sea – comprising one of the busiest sea lines of communications (SLOCs) - into “Chinese Lake”. The economic and strategic importance of the region can be gauged from the US’ decision to deploy 60 percent of its forces in the region. It will also remains to be seen what course of action will be taken by the US- itself a non-signatory to the United Nations Conventions on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The present judgement of the international court is only about the nature of the biological features in the region, it does not resolve the issue of the ownership of the Spratly and Paracel Islands, which face multiple claims from different parties. The island groups remain the main bone of contention in the South China Sea.

Contrary to the Hague-based court’s ruling invalidating Chinese “historic” claims on the region, the White Paper said: “China is the first to have discovered, named, and explored and exploited Nanhai Zhudao (the islands of South China Sea) and relevant waters, and the first to have continuously, peacefully and effectively exercised sovereignty and jurisdiction over them, thus establishing sovereignty over Nanhai Zhudao and the relevant rights and interests in the South China Sea.” The White Paper issued by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was titled, “China adheres to the Position of Settling through Negotiation the Relevant Disputes between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea”.

The Chinese established also accused Philippines of acting in the bad faith and its armed personnel of often using “excessive force against Chinese fishermen in utter disregard of the safety of their lives”.

India snubs US on Asia-Pacific rebalancing

First time reacting on the US rebalancing strategy whereby it will deploy 60 percent of its naval assets in the Asia-Pacific Region and wants India to play a more proactive role in the region, Indian Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma on Tuesday said that its primary area of concern was only the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

 

 

In his last press conference, the Navy Chief went on to add that the stakeholders in the South China Sea – both the littoral countries and the global power – are expected to behave “maturely”.

“It is a major policy statement by the US. From our own prospective our primary area of responsibility is from Malacca Strait in the East to the Gulf of Aden and Cape of Good Hope in the west,” Verma said in response to a query if the Indian security establishment has taken cognizance of the new rebalancing strategy by the US.

Even though the US has been maintaining that the strategy does not aim at any one country, but analysts find that the superpower is trying to contain the rise of a more assertive China. The US has repeatedly shown keen interest to help modernize Indian military to enable it to play more ‘important role’ in the region, a euphemism for providing a counterweight to Chinese hegemony in the region.

“South China Sea and Pacific region are important for global powers. But as far as the Indian Navy is concerned active deployment in the region is not on the card,” Verma added.

Explaining it more, the Indian Navy Chief on his last press conference before superannuating on August 31 said: “Our primary area is entirely different. First I have to fulfill this responsibility and then only will I be able to look beyond it.”

South China Sea has received global attention in the recent times with China being involved in territorial disputes with littoral countries like Vietnam and Philippines in the region. The region assumes a greater significance in the international maritime trade.

“Littoral players in the region are conscious what will happen if conflict occurs in the region. It is the larger responsibility of the stakeholders. I do expect that certain level of maturity will be displayed. Hopefully it (the situation) does not precipitate any further,” said Verma.

The US on the other has been maintaining that it has significant security interests in the Asia-Pacific region with lot of allies and partners in the region. In follow up the announcement of the policy, the US sent its Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to India. However, India so far had refrained to comment on it.