Asia Times: India signs on as Southeast Asia watchdog


	April 5, 2002	atimes.com

India/Pakistan

India signs on as Southeast Asia watchdog
By Sudha Ramachandran

BANGALORE - The proposed India-United States joint patrolling of the sea lanes along the Straits of Malacca represents not only a new high in cooperation between the two countries, but also signals India's emergence as a key player in the region.

The proposal put forward by the US some months back has been approved by India's Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), highly placed sources in the Indian government have said.

Reports that Washington was keen on escort operations by the Indian navy of US vessels as part of a larger US proposal of military cooperation first appeared in the Indian media in November last year. Describing the proposal, Prabhu Chawla wrote in India Today that documents in the magazine's possession "clearly indicate that military cooperation is a serious understatement. What the Bush administration has in mind is a full-fledged alliance that is calculated to make India the US' foremost military ally in Asia, with a relationship akin to that of the US and NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] members."

Chawla wrote that at the core of the US proposals is a key role for the Indian navy. It included, among other suggestions, escort operations by ships of the Indian navy for US supply ships every eight to 10 days through the Straits of Malacca.

In that article, Chawla wrote, "For the moment, the alliance idea seems stillborn" as it met with stiff opposition within the CCS. However, the CCS did not throw out the entire gamut of US proposals. Among those acceptable to India, it is clear now, was the proposal for joint patrolling of the Malaccan Straits.

There has been a remarkable change in India-US relations in recent years. India had stayed out of military alliances during the Cold War years. While economic cooperation has grown over the past decade, military ties have blossomed over the past year. In recent months, there has been a sharp increase in frequency of visits and level of exchange between the two countries. However, signals of the emerging strategic relationship were evident even before interaction over the war against terrorism began, indicating that Indian-US shared interests go well beyond the current crisis.

The proposed India-US patrolling of the Straits of Malacca is one example of the kind of long-term and broad interests the two sides are now jointly pursuing.

The Straits of Malacca, which connect the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean and which have Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia as their littoral countries, are critical to maritime trade. The sea line of communication (SLOC) that passes through the Straits is one of the busiest ocean highways in the world. An estimated more than 41,000 ships pass through the South China Sea each year - more than double the number that crosses the Suez Canal and nearly treble the number of ships that use the Panama Canal. The Malaccan Straits handle up to 600 ships in both directions per day. Twenty percent of the world's oil passes through it every day.

Its closure could generate a massive increase in freight rates worldwide and hit bulk shipments hardest. Ensuring that the Straits of Malacca do not fall into hostile hands that might choke the free flow of maritime vessels is a nightmare that many countries are anxious to prevent from being turned into reality.

Malaysia has emerged as a favorite meeting place for al-Qaeda and its allies in Southeast Asia. Simon Elegant writes in Time magazine, "Among the radical groups partly funded by al-Qaeda who meet regularly with arms smugglers in Malaysia are the Abu Sayyaf and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front from the neighboring Philippines, the Laskar Jihad and the separatist Free Aceh Movement of Indonesia, and Malaysia's own Kumpulan Mujahideen." These groups pose a significant threat to vessels crossing the Straits.

Admiral Denis Blair, head of the US Pacific Command, wrote in the International Herald Tribune that many counties have offered to participate in patrolling the Malacca Straits to ensure that terrorists cannot attack shipping there

India, too, has a vital interest in seeing the Straits of Malacca remain in friendly hands. Its "Look East" policy has led to an increasing engagement with Southeast Asia and the sea lanes to India's east are growing in significance for its energy security as New Delhi is looking for oil and gas supplies from Myanmar, Vietnam and Indonesia. Three years back, India announced that its strategic interests extended all the way from the Persian Gulf to the Straits of Malacca.

Last year, India set up a tri-services command in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. While a major task of the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) would be to check the growing Chinese presence in the waters close to India - according to Indian Intelligence reports the Chinese-built radar facility on Myanmar's Coco Islands provides Beijing with input on India's missile tests in Orissa - the ANC signals India's force projection up to the Malacca Straits.

The significance of the ANC lies in its geographic location, says Shishir Gupta in India Today. "The islands sit at the mouth of the Straits. Most ships approach the Straits through the 10 Degree Channel, which bisects the Andaman Islands and the Great Nicobar Islands. Indira Point, the southernmost tip of India, is actually separated by the Great Channel from Indonesia's strife-torn Banda Aceh territory. This means that by setting up the ANC, India will now have the capacity to protect and monitor sea traffic bound for the South China Sea."

The ANC signals India's capacity for monitoring the seas to its east to prevent narcotics smugglers and gun-runners from supplying weapons to India's strife-torn northeast.

India's credibility as a naval power capable of providing maritime security received a boost three years ago when its navy recovered a Japanese merchant ship hijacked in the Straits of Malacca. Japan has since been at the forefront of countries encouraging India to play a bigger role in checking maritime piracy.

For India, the joint patrolling of the Malaccan Straits is endorsement of its claim that its interests stretch up to the Straits. For the US, the joint patrolling is the beginning of a larger military engagement with India.

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