By Rijul
Singh Uppal
On the day of the Bharat Bandh against the petrol price
hike, 31 May 2012, the news channel Times Now broke the news about Washington seeking a strategic military relationship with
Bangladesh, starting with
the docking of the 7th Fleet of the US Navy on an island off Chittagong. An editorial in the Bangladesh newspaper, Daily Star (7
May 2012) on the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, noted that,
“It has for one thing, moved the level of bilateral relationship to a higher
degree and, for another, formally brought Bangladesh on the strategic radar of
the United States. Clinton’s
comments covered both the internal political situation as well as the strategic
compulsions”.
Dhaka’s surfacing on the
tactical map of the United
States would surely ring bells in the
capitals of several south and south east Asian nations. Washington is clearly
upping the ante in the region, searching for a new ally in the light of current
tensions in US-Pakistan relations, and of course, China, whom it is challenging
on the dominance of the South China Sea.
US and the Indian Ocean
region
It is a delicious irony that the
US, which in 1971 send the 7th Fleet to the Bay of Bengal to
intimidate India in the Bangladesh Liberation War, should now ask Dhaka to host
the same fleet as it defends its strategic interests vis-a-vis Myanmar and
China. Bangladesh is a
natural choice as it shares borders with India
and Myanmar, is a near
neighbour to China,
and stands as a bridge between south and south east Asia. For the US, Bangladesh
is a maritime nation and its access to the open sea and the Indian Ocean is a
strategic asset that America
wants to capitalise upon.
The presence of an American naval fleet in Bangladesh could see the Bay of Bengal emerge as
a conflict zone between Beijing and Washington, the
consequences of which could be deleterious to the Indian national and security
interests. As it is, the establishment of an American military base at the
Diego Garcia Islands in the 1970s bought about a paradigm shift in the Indian
Ocean Region, adding to mistrust with the then Soviet Union. Now it is emerging
as a major conflict zone with the emergence of an assertive China. The
establishment of a US navy parking dock/bay in Bangladesh that could possibly be
converted into a permanent base for US/NATO militaries can only add to the
tensions in the region.
Since the end of the Second World War, the Indian Ocean region has been increasingly militarised. In
recent decades, Beijing established a foothold
in the region with the establishment of a surveillance base on Myanmar’s Coco Islands.
For New Delhi, this could pose two opposing and
intriguing scenarios: 1) The Indo-US
strategic partnership could evolve into an Indo-US-Bangladesh arrangement, and
2) The US-Bangladesh
military relationship could turn out to be a bipartite relationship on the
lines of the present US-Pakistan relationship. Although some would argue that
this step could lead to a tripartite partnership, others think it unlikely in
view of America’s
history of strategic military relationships.
Overall, however, the presence of an American fleet in
an exclusive docking bay would eventually pose a strategic disadvantage to India as it would bring all Indian military
installations and the famous missile test sites on the eastern coast under
direct US
surveillance. It would also undermine the Indian Navy’s current regional
maritime dominance.
Hence it is in New Delhi’s
interest to ensure that Bangladesh
does not accede to the American request for naval parking facilities off Chittagong. The Indian
government and security establishment must take energetic measures to correct
the balance of influence on Bangladesh;
South Block must offer Dhaka adequate aid to meet its legitimate developmental
needs, and resolve the messy Teesta waters issue in as fair a manner as
possible, without compromising the interests of Bengal
farmers.
Conclusion
New Delhi’s
abiding problem is a weak leadership, an incoherent foreign policy, and a
propensity to be reactive in its efforts to establish itself as a regional
power. In fact, much like the ‘emerging superpower’ lemon sold to us by the
George Bush administration, it is doubtful if New Delhi
has ever been serious about India’s
natural right to be the regional hegemon.
Certainly, our pursuit of this goal has been
indifferent. We have much to learn, if only we would, from Beijing, whose inroads into the nations of
south and south east Asia are lessons to emulate. In recent times, India’s
approach towards its neighbours has been that of a friendly but unreliable
neighbour. The ignorance and indifference shown by the Indian polity as a whole
towards countries like Nepal,
Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and even Iran has created a vacuum of
regional leadership.
Our foreign policy appears to rest upon ignorance of
our neighbours and their genuine needs, and unduly weak and deferential towards
western nations, especially America,
even on matters concerning regional geopolitics and our own internal security.
That is why the US secretary
of state Hillary Clinton can ‘advice’ us on our relations with Bangladesh.
It is time to shake off the ennui and sloth of the
Foreign Office and to reach our potential as a regional power. The tilt by Sri Lanka and Bangladesh
away from India is a clear
failure of India’s
foreign policy mandarins.
As a beginning, we must accept the harsh truth that
SAARC as a regional organisation established to increase co-operation and build
trust between the member nations is a failure. Despite the existence of SAARC,
we have not achieved any regional co-operation in the past decade. Instead of
using SAARC to exert leadership and handle regional issues, India has been
toeing western line in the UN on issues concerning the region. The UN
resolution on War Crimes in Sri Lanka,
where India
toed the western line instead of calling a meeting of SAARC to resolve the
issue within the region, is only the latest instance of this colossal failure
of Indian diplomacy.
References
The author is a student. He
can be followed on twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/therijuluppal
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