India’s maritime security ambitions are central to its strategic vision for the Indo-Pacific, where it seeks to play a prominent role in ensuring stability, fostering cooperation, and countering threats like piracy, trafficking, and unilateral military assertiveness.
In this week’s Defence Mantra, Editor-in-Chief Nitin A. Gokhale provides an overview of India’s initiatives in maritime security, with emphasis on the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and collaborations with countries like Seychelles.
The IOR is critical to India’s security and economic interests, with major sea lines of communication vital for trade and energy security. India has been enhancing its maritime capabilities to ensure a stable and secure environment within this zone.
India’s “Act East” policy and Indo-Pacific vision support an open, free, and rules-based maritime order. The Act East policy underpins India’s engagement with Southeast Asian countries and supports broader regional integration. India’s Indo-Pacific vision builds on this, focusing on open seas and cooperation. By actively engaging with neighbors and like-minded nations, India promotes a shared vision of security and development.
Through the Quad, India collaborates with the US, Japan, and Australia to promote a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific. Joint exercises like Malabar are significant in demonstrating a collective security approach, which acts as a deterrent to unilateral military assertiveness in the region.
India collaborates with ASEAN nations to ensure maritime stability and counter illegal activities, reinforcing the centrality of ASEAN in Indo-Pacific security frameworks.
India plays a significant role in international efforts to keep global sea lanes free, open, and secure, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region. These initiatives gain importance as China’s assertive actions in the South China Sea challenge the principles of freedom of navigation and international maritime law.
India has emphasised the importance of freedom of navigation and overflight in international waters during diplomatic engagements, including summits like the G20 and ASEAN meetings.
India is going full throttle in positioning itself as a responsible maritime power committed to safeguarding the freedom of international waters.
