Concerned at growing sea piracy in the Indian Ocean, particularly off the Horn of Africa, the Indian Ocean RIM - Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) on Tuesday pledged to jointly combat the menace through sharing of information and technical assistance.
The Indian Ocean group hoped to reconnect the old linkages but it has not been easy to do so due to large difference in the economic development of member countries. Shubha Singh reports.
India said it is committed to building up Indian Ocean Rim Association in line with its own expanding bilateral ties with the members of the grouping.
Ever since the Quad started taking shape in 2007, China has been saying that the four-member grouping will be bound to fail. But much to the chagrin of Beijing, it picked up pace in the recent years emerging as a premier strategic group especially challenging China's assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea.
CIDCA is headed by Luo Zhaohui, the former vice foreign minister and ex-ambassador to India.
If Pitroda's blunder cost him his office, what should the BJP's unrepentant attitude cost it?, asks Shyam G Menon.
Accounted for 18.8 per cent of total imports in the region in 2010 vs Singapore, which contributed 17.8 per cent.
'Three decades of intensive discussions, protocols and Confidence Building Measures were jettisoned one fine morning in 2020.' 'The primary lesson that has been learnt is that that there is no reliability about the Chinese.'
Last year, China held a meeting with some South Asian countries on COVID-19 vaccine cooperation without the participation of India.
Expressing concern over the Russia-Ukraine conflict, India and Australia have underlined the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities and stressed that the contemporary global order has been built on UN Charter, international law and respect for States' sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Advocating deeper economic ties in the Indian Ocean region and emphasis on maritime security, India on Friday pitched for more robust "cooperative regionalism" and said the geo-strategic importance of the area cannot be underestimated.
The mechanism will serve as a platform among the Indian Ocean Rim countries to have regular dialogue and exchange of information for ensuring safety of ships and maritime resources. "It is an initiative to ensure peace, security and economic propriety in the region," said Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta.
Although the Malabar is a routine exercise which has been carried out for several years now, security experts attach a lot of traction to it in view of China's assertive behaviour in the South China Sea, observes Rup Narayan Das.
'I have personally been very keen on investing in lithium ion battery technology for some time.'
On a day Mumbai attack mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was released, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a veiled message to Pakistan, saying no country should provide shelter to terrorists but should punish them.
'Modi's first foreign trip at the very outset of his second term as PM reinforces a growing impression that this regional tour underscores a shift in emphasis in India's foreign policy that was traditionally focused on the northern tier of countries to the Indian Ocean rim,' explains Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Somali pirates are "shifting their location" towards India, but the country is watchful to deal with such threats, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said.
Cementing its strategic partnership with Seychelles, India on Wednesday signed four agreements with the Indian Ocean island nation to boost security and maritime partnership.
As a percentage of the military budget, the navy's share has fallen from 19 per cent in 2010-2011 to just 15.5 per cent this year. With the Indian Navy's annual budget declining steadily, security planners are reluctant to green light crucial projects, discovers Ajai Shukla.
India's national security strategy needs to be revised periodically since the global and regional geopolitical situation is dynamic, points out Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
That Australia is ready for a substantive engagement is evident from its 2013 Defence White Paper, which emphasised the need to build stronger defence relations with India, says Ajai Shukla
The protesting fishermen have refused to accept the body of the fisherman unless a central minister visits the island and gives them an assurance that such incidents would not happen again, Rameswaram Fishermen Association President S Emiret said.
Thailand's importance to India's Act East policy is too significant to be overlooked.
Today humanity is churning the ocean with a thoughtless vengeance -- with toxic wastes, plastics and hazardous substances being dumped into our once pristine seas. And there is no benign Lord Shiva to rescue us from our collective greed, says Shyam Saran.
India and South Africa on Friday agreed to deepen engagement in key areas of defence production, manufacturing, mining and minerals and combating terrorism.
'There is no Buddha or Gandhi among countries, existing for the service of others; they all exist for the good of themselves.' 'For each country, its own interests should be paramount, and it is futile and churlish to expect China to be an exception to this rule,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant and long-time China-watcher.
'Both nations have a common problem: A rampaging, jingoistic and hostile China which is making substantial territorial claims. In the long run, Japan and India are going to be the victims of Chinese aggression -- so they might as well hang together to contain China,' argues Rajeev Srinivasan.
'It will make good sense for military men on that side of the table to be confronted by our own.'
'As in the Panchatantra tale of the cat and the monkeys, it is possible for the clever swing State to play off the two competing powers.'
'If the dimensions of the strategic partnership worked out by India and the US seem like a grand alliance targeted at you-know-who, China had better realise that it has fathered it,' says B S Raghavan, a long time observer of China.
'To consider BRICS anything more than a temporary club with some common interests would be folly. The goal should be to induce others (Japan, ASEAN, South Africa) to align with us -- a non-threatening, democratic nation, rather than with malevolent China or waning America. For us to consider aligning with either China or the US would be absurd. India is just too big to be a sidekick,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
'India should think big: About how in a multi-polar world, India can indeed be one of the poles, rather than being a secondary power that has to worry about 'alignment' with one of the poles. A G3 in other words, India should look to getting others to align with itself rather than the US or China,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
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