Some interesting stuff in this article ... 'US will support India to maintain presence in south Asia'
T.V. PARASURAM
Washington, October 28, 16:39
The United States intends to maintain a strong security presence in the south Asian region and would aggressively "support New Delhi in asserting its national interests in the subcontinent," an American think tank has said.
"It expects to maintain indefinitely a strong security presence in east Asia and the Persian Gulf. It would like this presence to be regarded favourably by India, and it would like it at least to understand and preferably to share its view of how to strengthen the security in the region around the Indian Ocean," Stratfor, a web outlet which specializes in strategic issues, said.
Another think tank, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), notes that India and the US can build the recent good feelings into something more substantial such as strategic cooperation in the area of security in the Indian Ocean.
The safety of the sea lanes, said the CSIS in a new study, "is of vital long-term importance to both countries. In the past, discussing this issue ran quickly into Indian sensitivities about the presence of major powers in the Indian Ocean. In recent years, however, the Indian Navy has come to regard the US as inevitable, some say even benign presence in the area, and has become the primary advocate within the Indian security establishment of an active dialogue with the United States on the sea lanes."
Analysts also point out that Pakistan recently moved to expand its own naval activities, increasing the potential for conflict in the Indian Ocean. However, it is a strife that US-Indian cooperation could deter.
Furthermore, analysts said, Naval rivalry between India and China has been on the rise. India, notes analyst John E. Carbaugh in his periodic India Report, is concerned about China's cooperation with Pakistan as the former moves to set up a major Naval base in the Indian Ocean.
Conversely, China is concerned over India's commitment to building a blue water Navy that will include "stealth" ships, submarines and a couple of new aircraft carriers in the next few years. China is also upset over India's expansion of its Naval power eastwards--India has already held exercises in the South China Sea, including joint ones with Vietnam. It has also held exercises with Japan in the Bay of Bengal.
"Some in Washington," said Carbaugh, "believe that the US should be supporting India's Naval expansion plans, partly as a counter to China."
Ted Galen Carpenter, a foreign policy expert at the Cato Institute, said India "could help serve as a strategic counterweight to China if Beijing should ever begin to pursue expansionist ambitions." Since India "is a natural and large rival of Beijing," says Statfor, "it is taking on greater importance in security matters"
The Bush administration's courting of India is also influenced by a US fear of a tripartite alliance in Asia composed of Russia, China and India--if China and India improve ties. "Such a triangle," Stratfor warns, "would threaten American dominance in the world." |
