India’s Involvement in South China Sea dispute has to be seen in the context of ‘Offensive-Defence Strategy’ in foreign policy that is covertly being pursued by New Delhi under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It serves national interest because India has legitimate security concerns with China is on several areas; be it land boundary disputes, maritime time issues, trade and commerce, strategic perceptions, these Chinese offensive postures has menacingly threatened India’s national interests. While China has been pursuing such ‘offensive- defensive’ strategy against India for long through its policies like; ‘string of pearls’, one belt one road, developing China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, increasing presence in Indian Ocean region, India so far has been reluctant to counter such challenges. It is only recently that India has decided to act as a ‘game changer’ and adopted an ‘offensive defensive’ strategy to counter China and by getting involved in the South China Sea dispute. India though geographically far away from South China Sea and is not a direct party in the dispute, overtly maintains a distance from any involvement in this dispute. Its official the position is; “South China Sea dispute should not be ‘internationalized’ and all the parties concerned should resolve it bilaterally.” However, it’s economic, maritime and strategic interest demands maintaining freedom of passage for maritime trade through the South China Sea. These factors compel India to get involved in South China Sea dispute. The recent developments suggest that India’s interest in the South China Sea dispute is consciously growing. This is borne out from the announcement made by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at different platforms like ASEAN Summit and his joint statements made with several countries like USA, Japan Philippines and Vietnam also specifically mentions South China Sea dispute. Even though India is not a party to the South China Sea dispute it has some reasons to get involved in this conflict. One is to maintain maritime security, second to develop close ties with ASEAN to fulfill its Act East policy and third to counter Chinese postures in the Indian Ocean region. South China Sea sees a heavy percentage of world trade that passes through Malacca Strait that opens into South China Sea. India’s 55 % of trade passes through Strait of Malacca which opens into South China Sea. If China controls the region, it will upset the global trade practices and countries like India will directly get affected. Any belligerent action by China can hamper India’s foreign trade passing through that region. If China is successful in controlling the sea lanes of navigation, India would lose international trade route or pay extra to China to keep it restored. Therefore, India has a stake in ensuring freedom of navigation in the region to safeguard its economic interests. India has legitimate strategic concerns as well, because any military conflict in South China Sea will have ramification on the Indian Ocean region. It may hamper regional security situation and in such case India’s relationship with South East Asian countries may get disrupted. India in best of its interest, may like to have an amicable relationship both with China as well as ASEAN nations. Therefore from strategic point of view it is important for India to get involved in South China Sea dispute. There are few other factors that compel India to play a major role in South China Sea dispute. One, in wake of weakening American alliance in Asia, US want India to play a role in regional security issues such as South China Sea dispute. Second, China’s over growing ambitions has chilling effect on India’s security architecture and New Delhi likes to counter China by getting involved in South China Sea dispute. Third there is global maritime security interest involved in the region and many nations want India to balance the assertive and rising China and like it to get involved in the dispute to maintain peace and security in the region. Fourth, India’s Act East policy necessitates economic and defense ties with Southeast Asian countries and many of them want India to play a major role in resolving the South China Sea dispute. It appears India is more willing to listen to its ASEAN friends by seeing its growing involvement in the dispute. Disclaimer- The fact and story in this video is taken from various news agencies . Our intention is only to publish this through our channel not hurting anyone . We always try to make video true to real facts Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/DefenceTube Google Plus Link: https:// https://plus.google.com/+DefenceTube Facebook Link: https://www.facebook.com/defencetube Check my all playlist : https://www.youtube.com/defencetube/playlist

• published: 17 Jun 2017
• views: 1334