Economics and not military power will determine future international relations and countries will have to look beyond boundaries in the emerging geo-politcal scenario, Air Chief Marshall S P Tyagi has said.
The traditional role of military to protect geographical boundaries was changing as 'geo-economics' would play a central role in international relations, Tyagi said, speaking at the Carnegie Endowment for International peace.
"As India grows economically, the security interests of the country will shift. And what will happen is that we will have to look at economic security, trade security. Geo-economics is going to be more important than geo politics," he said.
Observing that safeguarding India's economic and trade security will be vital for the future, the Air Chief said meeting the country's energy needs will be crucial in the coming days.
"And the new threats as we look ahead, therefore, will be threats to the economic interests of India. If you look at trade security and economic security, it actually means we have to forget the geographical boundaries and you have to protect your interests outside the geographical boundaries," he explained.
"As India grows economically we are finding that the energy needs of the country are increasing immensely. We are not an energy rich country our energy needs are growing and therefore India's basic interest is in the free flow of energy. It cannot afford to have energy sources drying up because that will hurt our economic interests, that will hurt our basic mission of breaking the poverty barrier," he said.
Stressing that India's military will also play a diplomatic role in ensuring the march towards country's development, Tyagi said, "India's record is pretty good. We have not sold any nuclear secrets, we are into proliferation. We have played our role very responsibly in the international community. Nobody has accused us of being the rogue state."
"When I see the 'New India' and the role of military power, one of the roles I see the military playing is the diplomatic role. The military-diplomatic role as I understand will get stronger because we are getting involved in disaster managemen and disaster relief in the region," he said.
"In the future we will continue to work for peace and stability without flexing muscles and we hope everybody else will do the same because there lies the a win-win situation for us," Tyagi, who is on an official visit to the US, said.
Addressing a discussion on 'India's Strategic Environment and the Role of Military Power,' Tyagi placed the theme in the framework of external and internal dimensions of India's strategic environment in the context of neighbours like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Myanmar and China, which unlike India, do not have democracy.
Stressing that India wants to see a stable political environment in the region, he however said, "We are not here to sell democracy."
Tyagi pointed out to the role of non-state actors such as terrorists and militancy that are threatening not only India but also the whole region. "If peace and stability is the necessary ingredient of economic growth we definitely need to do something about these threats," he said.
Tyagi was asked to define what the Indian perceptions of China would be down the road and how New Delhi hoped to come to terms with the East Asian giant.
"As a military man we don't look at intentions. We look at capabilities. Intentions can change overnight," he said. "Indo-China relations are on an even keel. We have warm relations, our trade is growing and we are very happy with the manner in which things are going. We had a border problem but I am happy to report that all is quiet on the border and indeed there is a dialogue between the two countries."
"I don't say we are concerned about China but we certainly watch it," he said.
The Air Chief Marshall stayed in the broad contours of the Indo-US nuclear deal, stressing on the importance of the agreement in the context of India's growing energy needs.
But Tyagi also noted that bilateral relations between India and the United States had changed for the better with military to-military interaction increasingly 'tremendously' in the past decade. "
Our interests seem to coincide. We seek peace and stability. We both seek free trade and we both believe that energy requirements must be met in a peaceful environmentv," Tyagi said.
Tyagi brushed aside a question on the kind of military relationship India had with Iran, an issue that occasionally flares up in the United States. "We would like to keep good relations with everybody and that includes Iran. The fact is that Iran is in our neighbourhood." he said.
