India-US Defence Cooperation
Nuances and Vicissitudes-Part 2
For readers, who could not access Part 1 of this piece, a summary of Geo-Political realities of the 1960s to early 1990s along with events that pushed India to expand her defence relations with the USA formed the backdrop to this piece. What then are the pros and cons of India signing agreements on Logistics Supply(LSA), Communication interoperability and security(CISMOA) Basic exchange and cooperation for geospatial agreements(BECA)
LSA is a subject much discussed over the last decade, both in and out of Parliament. The objections raised by various participants broadly covered the following areas:
· That it would provide unfettered access to Indian military bases.
· It would not be a mutually beneficial and cost effective arrangement to accept US terms of settling payments for logistics for the use of our facilities.
· USA would have greater familiarity with our equipment and preparedness.
· It would affect our sovereignty
· It would adversely impact the independence of our foreign policy.
Since 1993, joint exercises have proved to be quite rewarding for both the participants. All three services have participated in highly advanced and specially designed exercises in each other's military establishments. Much has been written about the value of "Exercise Malabar" between the two navies as also" exercise Red Flag" between the two Air forces. The Army has been exposed to special and Commando operations while the American Army has experienced the highly specialised environs for jungle operations in our facility.
Joint patrolling of energy routes in the Malacca straits and to thwart transnational crimes at sea have provided invaluable operational opportunities.
LSA provides cover for transportation, airlift, refuelling and storage services for not only military exercises but also for disaster relief cooperation. There have been cost savings due to reciprocal arrangements. Published reports indicate that in Exercise Red Flag alone saving of Dollars 20 Million accrued to India.
The fact that for close to two decades, both the Militaries have graduated from basic exercises to very advanced ones and have managed to progress without providing unfettered access to each other's military facilities, proves that we are capable of safeguarding our individual national interests. Exposure to the globalised environment has enriched our abilities to deal with unregulated activities at sea, as also to use appropriate technologies to counter them.
While the Parliament and the experts debate on ensuring that our sovereignty remains unchallenged and that we retain our independence in crafting our foreign policy, the global environment has significantly changed. The old formulations of non-alignment which served us well in the early part of our independence need refinement. The recent debate in 2013 on Non-alignment two generated vibrant discussions. Prof Sen (Pune) went on to state that the version 2"reduced Indian thinking to irrelevancy".
Prime Minister Narasimha Rao's Look East policy appears to have found serious consideration and recognition beyond our shores. Much after India attempted to operationalise the concept, USA shifted its focus from the Euro-Atlantic to the Indo-Pacific ocean. The Modi Govt has made relations with Japan and Australia its strategic priority. Joint statements no longer hide our real concerns on China usurping maritime zones not authorised by UNCLOS. Freedom of navigation rights as per international norms are being endorsed in joint statements. We no longer sit on a fence.
The Indian Navy has clearly articulated its Maritime security strategy in a publication recently released by the RM. Primary areas of maritime interests, interalia, include the Persian gulf, gulf of Oman, gulf of Aden, Red sea and the littoral regions, east coast of Africa, Straits of Malacca, Singapore, Sunda and Lombok and the Cape of Good Hope.
The secondary areas include South East Indian Ocean, South and East China seas, Western Pacific ocean and other areas based on the Indian Diaspora, overseas investments and political relations. Thus, even as we debate, we are preparing to meet uncertain future contingencies.
If national interests continue to be clearly unarticulated and remain vague, changing geopolitical realities would impose several demands on India that would necessitate changes in the traditional concepts of its interpretation.
It is in the above backdrop that the other two agreements which may have legislative and legal ramifications prior to the release of cutting-edge technologies from the USA to India, need to be examined. CISMOA and BECA, the latter which has geospatial intelligence sharing clauses need to be considered from a position of strength and maturity rather than with deep suspicion and lack of confidence in our ability to protect our national interests. These documents are not cast in stone. They can be amended or revoked if required.
If however, the hereto vague concepts of national interests continue to hinder progress both in the USA and in India, perhaps circumstances may force us to find other paths of convergence to survive in a highly unpredictable world.
We are at cross roads-change or become irrelevant.
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