CASTING THE NET WIDE.

Australia

Moving beyond the unfortunate incidents of student attacks, India and Australia upgraded their relationship to the level of Strategic Partnership during the visit of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in mid- November. A closer look at the Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation envisages a key role for New Delhi in the region where China has made inroads over the last two decades. The Joint Declaration aims to strengthen cooperation in a wide range of security and related areas including counterterrorism, defence, disarmament and non- proliferation and maritime security.

The declaration also involves defence consultations at the highest level.

It is no secret that Canberra expects closer cooperation with New Delhi in IOR and East Asian region.

Rudd outlined this vision in his address at the Indian Council for World Affairs when he stressed that India would be central to the Asia- Pacific Community by 2020. " The challenge of the Asia- Pacific is to manage the inevitable stresses and strains of shifting economic and strategic contours," he said and added that it was for this reason that Australia strongly supports India's participation in all key regional fora like the East Asia Summit, the ASEAN Regional Forum and membership of the APEC. Whether related to strategic change in East Asia, combating terrorism ( including in Afghanistan), ensuring maritime security, acting on transnational crimes including human trafficking, or working together on new challenges such as natural disasters and stopping the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, there is great scope for security cooperation between India and Australia.

Not many are well informed here about Australia's defence prowess. A close military ally of the US, it has the 13th largest military budget worldwide, the fifth largest in Asia. It is among the top 10 military contributors in Afghanistan and the largest non- NATO contributor.

Australian forces are serving in 13 countries around the world and are now fundamentally enmeshed in Asia. The Australian defence forces are intensifying cooperation, with over 50 activities last year including joint exercises, particularly maritime exercises. Canberra is keen to rejoin the Malabar naval exercises and in turn would want India to take part in the Kakadu Exercise.

This would certainly boost Indian Navy's regional ambitions. Several high level visits from Australia have taken place this year as part of efforts to promote multi- faceted ties.

Southeast

While the Indo- ASEAN and the East Asia Summits were touted as a success, not many would have taken note of Vietnamese Defence Minister General Phung Quang Thanh's visit to India from Nov 4- 8. This visit is seen as a milestone in expanding bilateral defence cooperation. The visit was preceded by the first strategic dialogue between the two nations, held in New Delhi this October. Unlike China, India is not seen as a threat by Southeast Asian countries particularly Vietnam whose ties with Beijing have been far from smooth.

India and Vietnam entered into a strategic partnership in 2007. It is understood that the Chinese nuclear submarines deployed ( camouflaged manner) at the Sanya naval base in Hainan have been a factor behind India seeking closer defence ties with Vietnam. India is offering spare parts to the Vietnam Navy for repairing its submarines and has also offered to repair its Mig series of aircraft. It has also expressed interest in Joint Exercises between the defence forces of the two countries which could conceivably take place in the South China Sea. Vietnam is a key economic partner for New Delhi in the region.

India has invested in strategic industries like steel and cement and is also involved in capacity building of IT training centres in Vietnam. Energy ties are getting deeper and ONGC owns blocks there -- Block 127 and 128 in the Phu Khanh basin in offshore Vietnam.

The economic zone in the trilateral junction of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam is suitable for Indian investments.

Vietnam wants Indian investments in the zone to be routed through it. Dr Manmohan Singh's meeting with Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet on the sidelines of the Sharm el- Sheikh Summit in Egypt in 2009 is evidence that Vietnam is vital for India's ' Look East' strategy.

Gen Thanh is tipped to be the next President of Vietnam and the relationship could get more strategically oriented in future.

Another important relationship in the region that is set to grow is with Malaysia, when Prime Minister Najib visits India in January 2010. The two already share strong defence ties. Though not physically present in Malacca Straits, India has contributed in a major way in financing the security framework in one of the world's key sea lanes.

Meanwhile, eyebrows were raised when George Yeo, Foreign Minister of Singapore -- India's closest ally in the region -- supported Beijing's stand on Tibet much to New Delhi's dismay.

A friendly country like Singapore was expected to be sensitive while presenting its views on China- Tibet- India issues. This, however, has not cast any perceptible shadow on the close defence partnership between the two countries.

The issue of terrorism is one that has brought India and nations in Southeast Asia closer.

East

India had played a key role in peacekeeping during the Korean War of early 1950s.

But since then New Delhi has had a restrained presence in East Asia. Inevitably it ceded space to the US, Russia, China and Japan to address the North Korean nuclear crisis. While it still may not like to be a party in the crisis, India's strategic clout in the region is likely to be enhanced if the Indo- Japan Joint Action Plan is concluded during the visit of Yukio Hatoyama, the new Japanese PM, to Delhi in December. Since 2006, India's strategic partnership with Japan has gathered momentum. During Defence Minister A K Antony's visit to Tokyo in November, he and his Japanese counterpart, Toshimi Kitazawa of the first non- Liberal Democratic Party government of the country since the Second World War held negotiations for preparing the Action Plan.

The focus of Sino- Indian relations so far has been on the issue of border incursions and the activities of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetans. But there is a much bigger canvas on which the Sino- Indian competition is being played out, one which stretches from Japan to Australia via Southeast Asia. While China's enormous economic growth has given it a first mover's advantage in this region, India is not abdicating its role as a major power, one whose rise is not seen as threatening by anyone.

dipanjan. roy @ mailtoday. in

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