|
COVER STORY |
|
Voyagers to the East |
|
The Eastern Naval Command goes in a diplomatic drive |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Two significant statements by Rear Admiral Anil Chopra, chief of staff at
Headquarters, Eastern Naval Command (ENC) at Visakhapatnam sum up the
thinking here. Sharing his views with FORCE, he said that, “The emphasis has
shifted from Pakistan to issues in the east,” and “It is no longer India or China,
but India and China.” What he did not say is that the Indian Navy has taken the
US’ and other western nation’s perspective that India is a rising major power
seriously. Speaking on the occasion of the President’s Fleet Review, President
APJ Abdul Kalam himself said that: “Nearly 40 per cent of the world population
lives in our region. The economic growth of this region depends on the heavy
transportation in the Indian Ocean particularly the Malacca Strait. The navy
has an increasing role to provide necessary support for carrying out these
operations.”
It becomes obvious that the Indian Navy’s thinking runs something like this:
Given the political and military stalemate with Pakistan, India should grow
towards the east by taking advantage of its strategic location astride Indian
Ocean, and the fact that India shares maritime boundaries with five countries in
the eastern theatre, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand and Myanmar.
Therefore, while the navy’s war-fighting and constabulary roles cannot be
undermined, its diplomatic role assumes enormous importance during peacetime
if India is to expand its area of influence commensurate with its rising stature.
To do this, as a beginning, the Indian Navy must develop friendly relations
with its maritime neighbours, countries straddling the prominent chokepoint
— Malacca Strait, and with extra-regional and big navies that operate in the
Indian Ocean. The only problem with such an activity is how China would react
to India’s growing naval diplomacy. This assumes importance as China itself
is concentrating on its naval power to reach out to littoral nations in Asia, and
is wary of India’s growing naval clout. It is for this reason that following the
government’s directive the navy is not only downplaying rivalry with China, but
is talking of naval cooperation with China. But no one is really getting fooled.
India’s ‘Look East’ policy is seeking greater involvement of the Indian Navy to
maintain the time-tested balance-of-power dynamics with China in the region.
Therefore, in consonance with the Indian Maritime Doctrine released in
June 2005, that states that naval diplomacy is one of the primary tasks of the
Indian navy during peacetime, responsibility have been cut out clearly. A new
directorate for foreign cooperation has been set up at the Naval Headquarters
to synchronise policy for naval diplomacy with the ministry of external affairs,
and the ENC is the operational headquarters responsible for implementing the
policy. This has generated euphoria at the ENC, which, at present, is exercising at
various levels with neighbouring navies in the east, countries around the Malacca
Strait, and Russia which under President Putin has asserted an Asian identity
(see interview with Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet, Rear Admiral Sanjeev
Bhasin). The navy’s western fleet at Mumbai has been tasked to exercise with
extra-regional navies like the US and French. Therefore, it is little coincidence
that the recent President’s Fleet Review held in Visakhapatnam had three
definitive messages to deliver: a show of presence, reach and interoperability
by the mix of frontline warships culled from the western and eastern fleets,
an operational demonstration including missile and torpedo firings and Indian
Marine Special Forces to show the navy’s growing prowess, and to underpin the
importance of the ENC for peacetime activities. It is, therefore, essential to have
a close look at the ENC. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|