Opinion | India is sailing into the South China Sea with more than China on its mind
- New Delhi’s decision to send warships to a region fraught with geopolitical tension has raised eyebrows
- But rather than a move aimed at countering China, India is driven by a desire to expand its defence industry and better establish itself as a rising benign power
The announcement is making waves in the media. However, contrary to the common overused narratives, India’s decision to enhance its presence in the Pacific goes beyond the narrow aim of countering China.
Though power competition with China is a vital element in India’s strategic outreach to Southeast Asia, it is not the only factor that motivates its growing engagements in the maritime domain.
Rather, reducing India’s strategy merely to one aspect does a great injustice to New Delhi’s multidimensional interests.
It is necessary to look at India’s broader interests in the region. Accordingly, this latest development underscores two important aspects for India: expanding its defence industry, and incorporating a more robust great power diplomacy.
In his keynote address at the Indian Ocean Region Defence Ministers’ Conclave in February, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh emphasised India’s readiness to supply a variety of missile systems, light combat aircraft and other weapons systems to friendly countries in the Indian Ocean and beyond.
