The Cold War between the US and China on the South China Sea dispute is becoming hot. Last month, it was reported that the US and India have held talks about conducting joint naval patrols that could include the disputed South China Sea. The US and India were quick to dismiss the report.
Even though it seems that the US and India are not ready for joint patrols, the trial balloon is indicative of the evolving Indian position on one of the key disputes in the Asian strategic landscape. A number of factors are forcing India’s hand. The US itself has been forced to adopt a more robust posture in the Indo-Pacific. The dramatic acceleration in American military commitment to the region is a function of the astonishing rise of China, which is becoming a serious regional military power.
Since most of China’s territorial conflicts are spread across the East and South China Seas, naval force projection has gained uncharacteristic momentum for a country that, for most of its history, had a continental mind-set. China’s maritime strategy and its increasing capabilities may overwhelm the smaller powers in the region. Its singular objective is to deny them any operational space in its oceanic sphere of influence. US President Barack Obama’s ‘pivot’ towards Asia represents an attempt to warn China away from using heavy-handed tactics against its neighbours and provide confidence to other Asia-Pacific countries that want to resist pressure from Beijing.
Maritime security cooperation between India and the US has become a strategic necessity. American strategy, according to some in the US, should focus on supporting Indian pre-eminence in the Indian Ocean and closer US-India strategic cooperation.
India has to respond to this burden of growing expectations and it has its own reasons for challenging China. China’s anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden have raised hackles with some in the Indian Navy questioning the need for the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN’s) deployment of two frontline warships and a tanker. If, for China, the Indian Ocean is not an Indian lake, New Delhi’s imperative is to contest impressions in Beijing that the waters east of Malacca automatically fall under the latter’s sphere of influence. India’s naval engagement in the East, therefore, is also a reaction to China’s expansion in the Indian Ocean. The turf war between the two navies, as both nations seek greater roles in regional dynamics, is set to grow.
Indian naval officials and maritime strategists seem to favour a ‘naval forward strategy’ that could extend eastward. India’s engagements with Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines have become more serious.
Joint patrols with the US or not, India is conceiving a more ambitious role for itself in East Asia and India-US interests in the region are converging at an unprecedented rate. It is now up to New Delhi and Washington to take full advantage of these developments.
Harsh V Pant is professor of International Relations at King’s College London The views expressed are personal
China says religious extremism, violence down in restive Xinjiang
The situation in Xinjiang is becoming ever more stable. Local authorities have strengthened their ability to prevent and fight terrorist activity. ZHANG CHUNXIAN, chief, Communist Party of China
BEIJING: Religious extremism is on the wane in the remote and often restive region of Xinjiang, a political adviser claimed on Sunday as Chinese leaders continue to say that development is the key to controlling ethnic tension in the province, the country’s largest.
“Religious extremism has weakened remarkably in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region(XU AR),” Nurl an Abdumankin, political adviser attending the ongoing session of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) said.
The region over the last few years has seen violence between the Uyghur community and local authorities including the police including large-scale riots. The government tightly controls information coming from the region. Uyghur rights groups say the government’s hardline policies have alienated the community, triggering violence. Many are angry at Beijing’s apparent efforts to stamp-out the unique cultural identities of the Muslim Uyghur community, which has close cultural and language affinity to central Asian states.
Beijing, on the other hand, claims foreign-trained separatists are to blame for the riots and are trying to separate the region from China.
But according to Abdumankin, the situation has changed.
Ethnic unity and religious harmony have been significantly promoted in the region, he said.
He added that the “…central government should further strengthen coordination between Xinjiang and inland provinces in cracking down on extremism and illegal religious activities”.
“The situation in Xinjiang is becoming ever more stable. Local authorities have strengthened their ability to prevent and fight terrorist activity,” said Zhang Chunxian, the Communist Party of China (CPC) chief at the National People’ s Congress’ China’s rubber-stamp Parliament, session.
“However, Zhang warned that Xinjiang still faces a tough task to maintain stability. The local government will maintain pressure on terrorists, the official news agency, Xinhua said in a report.
The government’s efforts has been to show that it is doing all it can to promote development in the region – and that it is bearing fruit.