India and its Emerging Foreign Policy Challenges

Roshan Khanijo, Anurag Tripathi, Roshan Khanijo, Anurag Tripathi

• Publisher: VIJ Books (India) Pty Ltd
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9789386457769
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politik & Internationale Beziehungen
• Subtopic: Internationale Beziehungen

India's endeavour under Prime Minister Modi is to actively interact and cooperate with the international community and to promote India's regional and global objectives. India has tried to deepen her engagements with the South Asian neighbours, as also built important strategic partnerships with U.S, Russia, Korea and Japan. There has been an upward trajectory in India's Act East Policy, and her engagement with the Southeast Asian and East Asian countries has enlarged. In her Look West Policy, India is simultaneously, trying to balance her relationship with the Gulf nations and Israel. Thus, India is slowly expanded its diplomatic footprint and its outreach, to both, existing as well as new partners. This book is a joint effort by United Service Institution of India and Christ University, Bengaluru. It is a collection of views expressed by various scholars and experts on different issues faced by the India's Emerging Foreign Policy.

India and its Emerging Foreign Policy
Challenges

Introduction

Dr. Roshan Khanijo & Dr. Anurag Tripathi

This book titled, “India and its Emerging Foreign Policy Challenges”, is a joint effort by the Christ (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru, and United Service Institution of India, New Delhi. The book focuses on India’s foreign policy challenges, as also the emerging major global threats.

India’s endeavour under Prime Minister Modi is to actively interact and cooperate with the international community and to promote India’s regional and global objectives. India has tried to deepen her engagements with the South Asian neighbours, as also built important strategic partnerships with U.S, Russia, Korea and Japan. There has been an upward trajectory in India’s Act East Policy, in terms of political, economic and defence cooperation, and her engagement with the Southeast Asian and East Asian countries has enlarged. In her Look West Policy, India is simultaneously, trying to balance her relationship with the Gulf nations and Israel. Thus, India is slowly expanded its diplomatic footprint and its outreach, to both, existing as well as new partners.

But as the global environment is dynamic, hence issues like climate change, cyber, terrorism, etc, are challenging the nations. In India’s neighbourhood, the nuclear brinkmanship has seen an upward turn both in terms of missile development as well as its diversification. In such an environment, it becomes imperative to understand the global threats as also India’s approach to these and other regional and sub regional challenges.

Therefore, this book is divided into three parts. The first part deals with a brief overview of India and its emerging foreign policy, starting with the neighbourhood. The first article in this section is the “Indo-Bangladesh Relations: Scaling New Heights”, which is written by Dr. Binod Kumar Singh. With Bangladesh, India has many broad areas of cooperation but there are contentions also – like sharing of river waters, border management, etc.; these contentious issues may impact Indo-Bangladesh relations. The friendly relations between the two countries cannot continue, if key bilateral issues are not resolved peacefully and equitably. India, as an emerging power, has the responsibility to understand and respect the concerns of small neighbours, and so it needs to take initiative to settle the bilateral issues with sensitivity and common sense. Although, under the present leadership there is tremendous goodwill for Indian people in Bangladesh, but the same may change if there is a change in the leadership, as there are disgruntle elements in Bangladesh, who have a more pro-China approach. Hence there is a need to settle the issues and build a long-lasting relationship with Bangladesh.

Dr. N. Koiremba Singh and Ms. Richa Dohgera in their article, “Security Environment of Afghanistan: Implications for India”, discusses the rising vulnerability to Afghan people, from various terror groups. The threat from the Taliban though has lessened to some extent, but it has also led to other terror networks becoming active in Afghanistan, thereby, also overshadowing hopes of reconciliation. The ISIS with the loss of its territories in Iraq and Mosul, are now in search of new breeding grounds and their target is Afghanistan. The authors point out to the anti-Western and anti-American propaganda, that the terrorist organizations have adopted. In 2017 ISIS attacked a hospital in Kabul, killing 38 people. Though, the Americans retaliated by having air raids on the terrorist camps of ISIS, killing at least 35 ISIS militants, but the threat continues. The author believes that a peaceful Afghanistan will play a pivotal role in the security dynamics of the Indian sub-continent.

Dr. Joshy. M. Paul, in his article “India-ASEAN Maritime Cooperation” discusses the importance of India’s Maritime Cooperation with the South East Asian nations in facilitating peace and security. He also recommends a Quadrilateral maritime exercise in the territorial waters of the ASEAN countries, and also highlights the significance of India’s presence in South East Asia, to counter China’s presence in the Indian Ocean region.

Dr. Madhumati Deshpande and Ms. Apoorvi Mishra in their article “The Major Irritants in Sino-Indian Relations: The way Forward”, describes, in four phases the relationship between India and China. The article also tracks the growing economic and commercial trajectory between the two countries. The article enunciates that it is imperative for the two countries to solve their political disputes -starting with the border issues,(and the need for a workable solution for the borders). This, in turn may help in building up a conducive environment for economic growth and stability.

Continuing, with a competitive India-China relation in the global sphere, Mr. Ramprasad P in his article, “India and China: Eying Foreign Ports in Sri Lanka”, narrates the growing influence of China in Sri Lanka. China’s efforts to develop the Hambantota port and the economic hardships and the debt trap of Sri Lanka. He also discusses India’s efforts to build infrastructure in Sri Lanka. He lays emphasis on the joint cooperation of India and China in non-traditional security challenges like piracy, natural calamities, etc in the Indian Ocean Region, which may reduce tensions and build confidence. The author suggests the need for an effective long-term strategy to counter China in Sri Lanka.

Ms. Shivangi Shrivastava in her essay “Strategic Importance of Myanmar for India”, describes the emergence of Myanmar as a lucrative destination, and also a gateway to South East Asia, for India. Thus, Myanmar is an important country for India’s ‘Act East Policy’. Myanmar due to its geographical location can also facilitate better security management for the Northeastern states of India, provided, India develops better relationship with Myanmar. China is expanding its trade and transport network with Myanmar, which is a concern for India, as the Northeast region of India, has become highly susceptible to the offensive Chinese economic trade practices; whereby, these territories are made the dumping grounds for Chinese cheap goods. Also, Chinese intrusion into the Indian Territory, which China claims to be theirs, is a cause of concern. The author thus, suggests resolution of existing border problems between the two countries, through creation of smart borders, thereby, decreasing the chances of China’s interfere in the Northeastern states of India.

Mr Gaurav Kumar in his article, “The Changing Trajectory of Indo-US Relations”, traces the journey of the Indo-US relation, which has seen an upward trajectory for the last few years. The two nations are the strongest supporters of democracy and have witnessed unprecedented bilateral cooperation, which has also led to multilateral cooperation, and is set to shape the global arena in the coming years. In contemporary global settings, the relationship truly appears to be of two natural allies, having common understanding of the threats, and also have similar solutions to those threats. The current thrust and the tenor of the relationship thus, provides clear indication as to what direction the future holds for these two countries. The author lists the various areas of cooperation and the endeavour is to make the relationship stronger and long lasting.

Cdr Subhasish Sarangi in his article, “India and Japan: Confluence of Strategic Interests”, traces the historical relationship between the two countries. Japan’s engagement with independent India commenced with the signing of a peace treaty on 09 June 1952. Japan was one of the earliest foreign aid contributors to India with its Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) that commenced in 1958, and has consistently provided financial assistance to India over the decades. The bilateral relationship though suffered a setback in 1998 due to the nuclear explosions undertaken by India; however, the relationship since then has grown tremendously, especially under the leadership of PM Modi and PM Abe. There has been confluence of mutual strategic interests which has led to an all-round development between the two countries.

Mr. R.L Abhishek in the article, “China, Pakistan Nuclear Posture: Challenges for India”, narrates the nuclear environment in South Asia. The challenges and compulsions faced by India, to become a Nuclear Weapon State. He also analyses in detail the nuclear doctrines of Pakistan and China and how it may impact India. It gives suggestion as to how India’s nuclear doctrine can be strengthened, so that nuclear deterrence is maintained.

The second part of the book deals with some major predicaments that few nations are facing.

Dr. Sanchita Bhattacharya in her article, “Separatism and Struggle for Autonomy in Xinjiang” discusses the Uyghur militancy in Western China. The author talks about the need for an inclusive Chinese policy, where the Muslim population of China is integrated in to the mainstream. The Chinese government needs to develop empathy towards the Uyghur minorities of Xinjiang, if they want to prevent the problem from getting escalated. The social, cultural, economic, condition of Uyghur in Xinjiang needs to be addressed, if political situation needs to improve.

Mr. Arun Teja in his article, “Egypt’s Uncertain Future under President Al Sisi’s Rule”, narrates the past political and economic turmoil in Egypt, and the continuation of the same, should parallel economic developmental programme fails in Egypt. This is because; it would make Egypt highly dependent on foreign nations, due to its growing economic debt. On political front, long term deprivation of rights may result in dissatisfaction amongst the public, though; in near future this may not be a threat, as President Al-Sisi enjoys a positive image amongst the society and media, (due to its propaganda of economic development), resulting in lesser anti – Sisi position. However, things may change and the political turmoil may resume as Egypt has a history of armed revolt.

Ms. Soundarya J in her article, ‘Countering China’s Legal Warfare in Territorial Disputes: Doklam and South China Sea’, discusses the lessons learnt from Doklam dispute. It describes in detail the “Three Warfare” of China and the result of Doklam issue as a new strategy, to counter Chinese brinkmanship. It debates the need for a political will, to not to succumb, to China’s Three Warfare strategy.

The final part of the book deals with three major threats, namely, climate change, terrorism and cyber challenge.

Ms. Bhavya AG in her article “The Impact of Climate Change on Natural Disasters in India” narrates the emerging threat of global warming and climate change to India, as also to other nations. There is a need to recognise a nations’ ability to prevent, mitigate, respond and recover from these catastrophic events. More and more nations are becoming vulnerable to climate change, and there is a need to address this challenge systematically, because if timely actions are not taken, then the nations may have to divert a large sum of money in disaster management, which can impact the economic growth of the country.

Mr. Shantanu Roy-Chaudhury in his article, “ISIS and India”, describes how the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) took the world by storm in 2014, when it managed to capture large tracts of land in Iraq and Syria. By declaring itself a caliphate and through extremely successful online propaganda, the organisation managed to lure thousands from and around the world, to fight for them. What set them apart from other groups was their ability to use social media for recruitment. This success also led to many people being radicalised in other countries and carrying out the attacks planned by ISIS. Although, ISIS began its propaganda in India, the organisation failed to gain a strong foothold in the country, despite the fact that India is a home to the third largest Muslim population in the world. Credit has to be given to the Indian government and its counter terrorism units along with the population, which for the most part has resisted the “caliphate”. However, although ISIS has been declining drastically, it should not be written off, as with its method of lone wolf attacks, it may create mayhem, as it has been partially successful in creating terror in Europe and other parts of the world.

Mr. Aditya GS in his article “The Need for Global Cyber Laws”, states that the threat of Cyber Law cannot alone be solved through new software or passing of legislation. It is therefore required that there should be a global consensus on the implementation of a universal cyber law, without breaching the state sovereignty. The article also tries to discuss the various global cyber...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Foreword
• Abbreviations
• Contributors
• India and its Emerging Foreign Policy Challenges
• Around The World
• Changing World and the Threat
• Index