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Maritime Power Projection in South-China Sea

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July 21, 2017

Click here to read about Malabar Exercise

What is the issue?

The Malabar naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal is seen as a maritime response to China’s aggression in Dokalam.

Why India’s plan might not succeed?

  • Modern-day trading nations regard the oceans as a shared global common, with equal opportunity rights for all user states.
  • Unless a sea-space is a site of overlapping claims (Ex. South China Sea) or a contested enclave in a geopolitically troubled spot (Ex. Persian Gulf), no coastal state can deny another the use of the high seas.
  • This balance only changes during war.
  • During peace-time operations, the maritime forces enjoy assured access to the seas that lie beyond national territorial waters.
  • Given the Beijing’s key role in the geopolitics and economics of the Indian Ocean region, a plan to deny its warships entry into India’s surrounding seas is unlikely to succeed.

What India can do?

  • India could now resort to a strategy of counter-power projection by expanding the scope of its naval deployments in the South China Sea.
  • Indian Navy could plan to use the South China Sea’s geopolitically sensitive spaces for the strategic power projection.
  • Such a strategy is bound to have a deterrent effect on China’s naval posture in the Indian Ocean region.
  • After an arbitral tribunal invalidated many of China’s historical rights within the nine-dash line, Beijing has been extremely cautious about perceived challenges to its authority.
  • This vulnerability must be taken advantage of by India.
  • The Indian Navy must plan for counter-presence in China’s near-seas, where Beijing cannot prove a territorial infringement, yet feel the pinch of a perceived violation of its political sphere of influence.

 

Source: Live Mint

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