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asia policy
which it cannot prevent foreign ships open access to these waters. 19 Reports
in 2015 of a growing presence of Chinese ships around the Andaman Islands
caused a flutter in the Indian security establishment. 20 U.S. navigation
patrols in the South China Sea, Indian analysts fear, could encourage
greater Chinese maritime activism near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands,
as the PLA Navy seeks to expand the ambit of its operational presence in the
Indian Ocean—ironically, employing the same tactics as the U.S. Navy in
the congested Pacific littorals.
India’s Strategic Maritime Preferences
As things stand, New Delhi’s strategic preferences are clear. In the
short term, India would like China to tone down its aggressiveness and stop
attempting to unilaterally change the status quo in the South China Sea.
This involves the cessation of reclamation activities and assertive maritime
patrolling. But New Delhi also hopes the United States and its East Asian
allies will resort to milder military strategies in confronting China. For the
peaceful resolution of territorial disputes in accordance with international
law, China and other claimants will need to abide by the 2002 Declaration
on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and tone down their
military rhetoric. All sides will need to display sincerity in negotiating a
legally binding pact to govern maritime conduct in the South China Sea.
Over the medium and long term, it would be in India’s interests to
see a diffusion of maritime power in the Pacific theater. Strengthening the
maritime operations capabilities of Southeast Asian states would result in
a more stable balance of power across the Indo-Pacific strategic system,
leading to greater stability and predictability in the Indian Ocean. For this
to occur, India realizes it may need to partner with the United States, Japan,
and Australia in the wider Asian littoral to secure its own leverage against
the rapidly growing Chinese naval presence and strategic influence.
19 Sophia Kopela, Dependent Archipelagos in the Law of the Sea (Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers,
2013), 137.
20 Jayanta Gupta, “Chinese Naval Ships Detected Near Andamans,” Times of India, September 4,
2015 u http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Chinese-naval-ships-detected-near-Andamans/
articleshow/48817805.cms.
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