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U.S., India Inch Toward Naval Partnership
The World Politics Review ^ | 09/07/2012 | The World Politics Review

Posted on 07/26/2012 9:05:56 PM PDT by James C. Bennett

During his recent visit to New Delhi, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta highlighted the evolution of the annual Indo-U.S. naval war game Malabar from a passing exercise for the two navies’ ships into a full-scale engagement across all functional areas of naval warfare. Indeed, the steadily increasing complexity of Indo-U.S. naval force coordination has been a standout feature of an otherwise interest-driven relationship, suggesting Washington increasingly sees India as the western hinge of the U.S. pivot to Asia, with the U.S. Navy backstopping the shift from the Pacific. However, before the Indo-U.S. entente on the seas becomes a full-blown condominium, more dialogue between the two navies will be necessary.

India’s latest naval buildup, unlike a previous one in the mid-1980s, has been welcomed by the existing U.S. alliance framework in Asia at a time when major defense cuts loom in the West and China shows signs of proto-hegemony in its near waters. The degree to which the region is comfortable with the Indian naval expansion is illustrated by former Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe’s endorsement of India’s role in keeping Asian sea lines stable in a way that can reassure Vietnam, the U.S. and South Korea, if not China. India’s stated aim of acting as a net provider of security in the Indian Ocean region has been similarly endorsed by successive Pentagon documents, with the U.S. overtly calling for a greater Indian role in the Indo-Pacific.

This is a far cry from the early days of the Obama administration, when talk of a G-2 arrangement between the U.S. and China angered India. In 2009, a Chinese admiral even talked about dividing up the Indian and Pacific Oceans between the Chinese and American navies. However, rising tensions in the South China Sea have put this narrative to rest. Instead, India and the U.S., along with Japan, Australia and Vietnam, have increasingly converged around the need to maintain freedom of navigation on the high seas. And India is no longer holding back on voicing its support for keeping the South China Sea in particular an open international waterway, as recent comments by the Indian finance minister indicate.

There is also a realization in Washington that India is actually much better placed for a new peacekeeping architecture in the Indo-Pacific than China, owing to both geography and India’s specific naval capabilities. While much has been made of China’s refurbishment of the Soviet-era aircraft carrier Varyag, the Indian navy actually has more than 50 years experience operating carriers and is well on its way to positioning two carrier strike groups in the Indian Ocean starting in 2013, with a third expected by 2020. India has also leased a nuclear attack submarine from Russia, which according to one Pentagon assessment is superior to comparable Chinese submarines in terms of acoustic stealth.

These advances in power-projection platforms are proceeding side by side with the cementing of ties among the members of the Indian-led Indian Ocean Naval Symposium, which is facilitating Indian military deployments in the region. India today provides maritime oversight to the Seychelles, the Maldives and Mauritius. It also patrols the Mozambique coast and has listening facilities in Madagascar and berthing rights in Oman, Qatar and Djibouti. The Indian navy is set to emerge as the chief provider of hydrographic data to Kenya, Tanzania and even Saudi Arabia. In the eastern Indian Ocean, India’s Andaman and Nicobar Command has the assets to surveillance seed all the key chokepoints in the Indonesian archipelago.

This carefully constructed network of relationships may also give India the confidence to accommodate a U.S. Naval presence in the Indian Ocean to which it previously objected. Neither the use of American drones operating out of the Seychelles to target insurgents in the Horn of Africa nor the U.S. presence in Diego Garcia is an unsettling prospect for India anymore.

To the contrary, India’s own expanding posture coupled with the U.S. presence ensures that there is very little space for China to fill in a noncooperative manner. In fact, Chinese analysts have begun calling for expanded maritime cooperation in the Indo-Pacific as well.

One area where India will continue to oppose a heightened U.S. presence is the Bay of Bengal, as demonstrated by the alarm in New Delhi over reports in late May that the U.S. Navy might be looking to base ships in Chittagong, Bangladesh, where they would be able to surveil Indian missile facilities in the area.

However, Washington seems to be sensitive to New Delhi’s red lines, and the State Department quickly denied any plans to base in Chittagong. More broadly, the U.S. pivot to Asia, while projected to move 60 percent of the U.S. fleet to the Pacific Ocean, seeks to maintain a dynamic rolling presence rather than one revolving around permanent bases, something that India will be quite comfortable with.

For its part, the U.S. will want India to demonstrate its acceptance of such a posture by signing the Logistics Supply Agreement, which would allow both sides to use each other’s facilities with a net settlement of costs taking place over a given time period. However, given India’s reluctance to join any overt bloc framework, it is unlikely that India will sign on. More likely is an extension of replenishment facilities to the U.S. outside the framework of a formal agreement.

Indeed, both India and the U.S. will be wary of provoking any knee-jerk countermeasures from China, one of the key reasons why Washington and New Delhi are seeking a trilateral India-U.S.-China dialogue. Nevertheless, it is in the naval sphere that Washington is most inclined to make strategic transfers to New Delhi, and a U.S.-India naval condominium could be the best way for both sides to achieve their strategic objectives heading into the new century.

Saurav Jha studied economics at Presidency College, Calcutta, and Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He writes and researches on global energy issues and clean energy development in Asia. His first book for Harper Collins India, "The Upside Down Book of Nuclear Power," was published in January 2010. He also works as an independent consultant in the energy sector in India. He can be reached at sjha1618@gmail.com.

Photo: Sailors assigned to the guided-missile destroyer USS Halsey stand in ranks as the Indian navy destroyer Sapura pulls alongside during a Malabar 2012 exercise, April 11, 2012 (U.S. Navy photo by Spc. 3rd Class Christopher Farrington).


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: china; india; navy; us
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1 posted on 07/26/2012 9:06:03 PM PDT by James C. Bennett
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To: James C. Bennett

How about our corporations get with the program and stop building up China.

Just asking.


2 posted on 07/26/2012 9:08:26 PM PDT by Cringing Negativism Network (America doesn't need any new laws. America needs freedom!)
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To: Cringing Negativism Network

Not going to happen... not with the kind of manufacturing base that they have helped set up in China.


3 posted on 07/26/2012 9:13:19 PM PDT by James C. Bennett (An Australian.)
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To: James C. Bennett

It’s got to happen.

Otherwise the USA is done.

Then their money is done.

Then ... everything is done.

Just saying. Bring back jobs now.


4 posted on 07/26/2012 9:18:56 PM PDT by Cringing Negativism Network (America doesn't need any new laws. America needs freedom!)
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To: James C. Bennett

Might be a good idea. Combine our ability to use techy things to locate problems, with the Indian Navy’s willingness to actually use a deck gun against pirates. Maybe it’s an idea.


5 posted on 07/26/2012 9:20:32 PM PDT by DesertRhino (I was standing with a rifle, waiting for soviet paratroopers, but communists just ran for office.)
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To: James C. Bennett

The USA needs to cultivate a genuine strategic alliance with India. Indian is the great natural ally for the USA in this century.


6 posted on 07/26/2012 9:34:54 PM PDT by dodger
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To: Cringing Negativism Network
How about our corporations get with the program and stop building up China.
Outsourcing is good for the economy. Anyone who understands macroeconomics will see this.

Customers and investors drive businesses, and customers demand lower prices and investors demand higher profits. In order to lower their cost structure, companies outsource non-critical activities to places where they can get the most value for their money.

This, in turn, allows them to offer their products at a lower price, and depending on what the company does, millions of customers could benefit. Likewise, the investors then receive higher profits and better returns on their investments.

7 posted on 07/26/2012 9:35:10 PM PDT by moonshot925
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To: moonshot925

I used to agree with you on that theory. I do not anymore.

We stopped demanding a level playing field. We threw out our bathwater, and now we’re failing.

We need to start playing defense as well as offense.

Charge to import into America, and build back up our industry.

Now.


8 posted on 07/26/2012 9:38:09 PM PDT by Cringing Negativism Network (America doesn't need any new laws. America needs freedom!)
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To: Cringing Negativism Network
Charge to import into America

Tariffs will only shrink the size of our economy.

Consumers will have to pay higher prices and our exporting industries will surfer from retaliatory tariffs.

Higher prices = less demand = smaller economy

9 posted on 07/26/2012 9:57:27 PM PDT by moonshot925
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To: moonshot925

Gotta run.

Wish you a good evening. :D


10 posted on 07/26/2012 9:59:10 PM PDT by Cringing Negativism Network (America doesn't need any new laws. America needs freedom!)
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To: Cringing Negativism Network
Charge to import into America, and build back up our industry.

Industry built by whom? Charging tariffs has never worked in any country since beginning of history. It always results in sub-standard goods and priced so high that everybody's standard of living deteriorates. If protectionism works, what is stopping any country becoming prosperous? Building industry needs competition, innovation, capital & favorable regulatory environment. We have the first two but have debt instead of capital and more regulations than any other industrial country.
11 posted on 07/26/2012 10:00:57 PM PDT by entropy12 (Hate is the most insidious emotion, it will rot your gut from the inside.)
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To: Cringing Negativism Network

That is a nice sentiment. As long as folks line up outside (fill in the discount chain store here) to get their Chinese stuff cheap— it will never happen.

We are pretty much done.


12 posted on 07/27/2012 4:19:35 AM PDT by Vermont Lt (I just hate our government. All of them. Republican and Democrat.)
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To: Vermont Lt

Protectionism will work about as well as the drug war. It’s futile, like trying to stop the tides.


13 posted on 07/27/2012 5:35:12 AM PDT by bkepley
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To: entropy12
It is rather ironic that the U.S. has the highest (or second-highest, depending on the measure) corporate income tax rate in the world, that forces U.S. companies to off-shore and out-source, and the only solution that comes to mind is to raise the taxes even higher to punish U.S. companies for off-shoring and out-sourcing.
14 posted on 07/27/2012 5:56:06 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: Vermont Lt

I disagree.

However a change needs to be made, here in America.

We need, yes need to start insisting on balance. That means right now, we need to enact import tariffs.

Significant import tariffs.


15 posted on 07/27/2012 6:26:10 AM PDT by Cringing Negativism Network (America doesn't need any new laws. America needs freedom!)
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To: Cringing Negativism Network

Double the price of our oil, for the children!


16 posted on 07/27/2012 6:26:46 AM PDT by Toddsterpatriot (Math is hard. Harder if you're stupid.)
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To: Cringing Negativism Network

Doubly ironic is your last comment, when compared to your tagline.


17 posted on 07/27/2012 6:31:14 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: entropy12

You’re sleeping.

America did absolutely fine, for the 200 years we ran a surplus.

America is DYING now, because we have exported all our manufacturing.

You almost cannot find anything made in America anymore. Nowhere.

It is a very large shame.


18 posted on 07/27/2012 6:57:10 AM PDT by Cringing Negativism Network (America doesn't need any new laws. America needs freedom!)
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To: moonshot925

No.

China is a new thing. China is four times the size of America, population-wise.

Four times. That means China will expand and expand and expand.

We need to take action now. China has now overtaken America in exports.

Time to stop messing around.


19 posted on 07/27/2012 7:09:28 AM PDT by Cringing Negativism Network (America doesn't need any new laws. America needs freedom!)
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To: entropy12

Look we are messing around while China is eating our breakfast, lunch and dinner.

China is not open.

China does no allow competition WITH China. China cedes nothing. China imports “American” car factories, it does not import American cars.

Yet we continue on, as if everything is just fine...


20 posted on 07/27/2012 7:13:13 AM PDT by Cringing Negativism Network (America doesn't need any new laws. America needs freedom!)
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