New Delhi, India — Chanakya, prime minister and adviser to the emperor in India’s Maurya dynasty (340-293 B.C.) famously wrote in a treatise some 2,000 years ago, “The geography of a country determines its history.” India straddles three important waterways that are crucial to the present globalized world, dependent on sea trade.
The Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean are the new “Silk Routes” for commerce and trade. Countries in the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and Oceania are dependent on these sea routes for energy as well as commodity imports and exports, especially large producers of oil and gas that are geographically located around these waters.
Large cargo vessels that ferry industrial goods from Europe and the United States also depend on safe passage through the three waterways, where even a minor hiccup can cause acute financial distress.
It took many years after India gained independence in 1947 for the country to start thinking about becoming a maritime power, both economically and militarily. This determination followed the oil shock of 1970 when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries was formed and the economies of the world plunged into recession.
Militarily, India realized its potential as a naval power during the 1971 war with Pakistan, when its strategy to control the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal succeeded in ensuring victory in East Pakistan, which became Bangladesh. What struck military analysts was the impotence of the United States and China to come to the succor of Pakistan. Even the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Enterprise rapidly withdrew from the area after receiving intelligence of a kamikaze raid by the Indian Air Force in the Bay of Bengal.
India’s naval muscle has grown since then, although much remains to be achieved as a commercial maritime nation whose trade volume is over 80 percent by sea. The infrastructure of Indian ports needs upgrading to be on par with world-class standards. More ports similar to India’s largest private port Mundra in the Indian state of Gujarat need to be built by the private sector in all coastal states of India.
The events of 1999 leading to the Kargil conflict with Pakistan were the second time India used its naval power to coerce Pakistan into submission. The deployment of submarines in the Arabian Sea rapidly brought Pakistan’s economy to a grinding halt.
Western powers and Pakistan’s donors realized the futility of war with India and forced former Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif to seek peace, as their sea trade was also being affected by crippling rates of war insurance for all sea traffic east of the Suez Canal and west of the Malacca Strait.
The strong sea pincer denial strategy of the Indian government forced former U.S. President Bill Clinton to summon Sharif to Washington. An astonished international community sat up and took notice, for the first time since 1971, of India’s growing naval power and its strategic geo-political importance.
But military power wielded by a country is dependent on its economic strength. History, both ancient and modern, has shown how wars bleed a nation’s economy. Although today’s modern powers seek peace and dialogue as the first step toward conflict resolution, they also invest heavily in modernizing their military capabilities to deter any country seeking hegemony of its region. Some countries raise their military budgets while curtailing the standard of living of their citizens.
Ocean and coast management can improve global governance. A recent treaty, signed by 91 countries including China and India in Rome in early September to halt illegal fishing, can help poor nations. If enforced, it will prevent fishing boats from landing in various ports if inspectors deem the catch to be illegally procured.
As per available data presented during the Rome Agreement, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing worldwide amounts to between 11 and 26 million tons of catch annually with a market value of around US$23 billion.
Coastal states like Somalia have politically collapsed since 1991 when former President Siad Barre’s government was overthrown. Around 700 unlicensed foreign fishing vessels moved into the fish-rich seas of Somalia and indulged in illegal fishing, according to a U.N. report, and decimated its coastal zones. The locals, unable to eke a living, identified a more violent and lucrative business by hijacking cargo ships and demanding ransom for the kidnapped crew.
The European Union, China, Taiwan and South Korea are some of the largest consumers of such illegal fishing and for decades have been turning a blind eye to the catch landing at their ports.
Sea piracy rampant in the Horn of Africa was the cry of these nations while pirate fishing vessels looted with impunity. Warships were dispatched to protect their fishing trawlers and refrigeration ships and the principle of freedom of the seas.
If all signatories ratify the Rome Agreement by the end of 2009, a methodology will be brought in to inspect and verify whether the catch landing at a designated port is legal. Leadership of this order and magnitude has to be provided by India as littoral countries around the Indian Ocean region are weak at sea and cannot carry out effective patrolling.
India, despite being a nuclear weapons power, has a stated policy of “no first use.” However, this has not prevented the government from modernizing its defense capabilities. The economy has grown by leaps and bounds since 1999 and significant capabilities have been added to modernize its armed forces. The recent launch of its nuclear powered submarine INS Arihant is a step in the right direction.
As a major power in Asia in the maritime sphere, the Indian navy represents the strategic second-strike capability in the event of any foreign attack on its soil. However, despite limitations and differences, it needs to be understood internationally that India cannot be cowed by any other power. This is due to its fortuitous geographical position in the Indian Ocean, as Chanakya wrote.
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(Captain Devindra Sethi is an alumnus of India's National Defense Academy, the College of Defense Management, the College of Naval Warfare, and the War College in St. Petersburg, Russia. He is a successful entrepreneur in the maritime industry and fluent in English, Russian and Hindi. ©Copyright Devindra Sethi.)
