'There is an added sense of urgency about India’s engagement with South Asian neighbours'

With growing Chinese influence in South Asia, India has gone on a massive diplomatic outreach to mend its ties with neighbours which over the years has soured due to various political reasons. Professor of International relations in Defence Studies Department and the India Institute at King’s College London Harsh V Pant said that there is a sense that India needs to engage them more substantively and perhaps bring them on board on some of the largest strategic questions of the day vis-a-vis China and also other otherwise, reports senior correspondent Chandrakala Choudhury.

New Delhi: As India China border dispute continues despite several attempts to dissolve the ongoing tension between the two nations, India is working vigorously to win back South Asian Neighbours seeking to project itself as an alternative to China.

With recent bilateral talks with Nepal, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan and a frequent visit by India’s top officials to countries in the region appear to show new energy in India’s neighbourhood first policy.

In an interview with ETV Bharat, Professor of International relations in Defence Studies Department and the India Institute at King’s College London Harsh V Pant said, “Certainly it is a continuation of India’s efforts as India has always maintained ‘neighbourhood first’. But in the context of what is happening with China, there is an added sense of urgency about India’s engagement with its neighbours and India would not like to end up in a situation where its neighbours are not supportive of India’s ambition of the region. So I think there is a sense that India needs to engage them more substantively and perhaps bring them on board on some of the largest strategic questions of the day vis-a-vis China and also other otherwise.

“Now with the border crisis with China, certainly there is a newfound sharper edge to India’s engagement around the world and not only in the neighbourhood. In terms of neighbourhood, the stake is high, India would certainly like to recreate relationships that are enduring and sustainable and different from China.

China’s engagement is largely predicated on giving money or economic aid to neighbouring countries but India’s relations with neighbouring countries are more about people to people ties, a partnership which is more bottoms up.

Unless India and the neighbours develop together both will not be able to harness its true potentials, so I think that’s the sense that India is trying to revive and that’s the sharper edge to India’s neighbourhood engagement”, Pant pointed out.

With growing Chinese influence in South Asia, India has gone on a massive diplomatic outreach to mend its ties with neighbours which over the years has soured due to various political reasons. For instance, with Nepal over its Constitution in 2015 and now over the map, and with Bangladesh over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).

“Until recently, there was a drift in India’s reach out to the neighbourhood. MEA S. Jaishankar is changing that, one country at a time. Of course, Pakistan and China are hyphenated by their hatred towards India and there is nothing India can do to fix it.

They are being managed well on the border by the Indian Army. As for the rest, I believe, India has persuaded all of them that New Delhi is a dependable and peaceful neighbour, one that looks to creating win-win relationships”, ORF Vice President Gautam Chikermane told ETV Bharat.

He underlines that there are three components of India’s diplomacy that it must communicate with its neighbours. First, India should let its neighbours know that its friendship is not predatory. For instance, it does not seek to create debt-trap diplomacy, as China does.

Second, India understands the pull and push of democratic changes, as against authoritarian regimes that want to “force their will” on other countries. Third, India is not a bully. It seeks to build bridges of prosperity rather than expropriate and exploit them economically, politically or militarily. And if things do not work out, the diplomatic table is the place for discourse, not military attacks.

“India needs to remind the neighbours of its past track record of never transgressing into their territories or their markets; India doesn’t seek to build pipelines that spy on their citizens. India’s peaceful actions speak much louder than its words, while China’s aggressive actions overpower all its claims of being a peaceful nation. In the comity of peaceful nations, India is the only strong, stable and supportive partner they have in the vicinity”, Chikermane further added.

Perhaps, such an approach by India can be viewed as an effort to convince its neighbours that they would never see such belligerence from India. It is overall an effort to position itself as a substitute to China.

“The sense that India wants to convey is that India is a reliable partner even in the times of crisis. When most have been looking inwards and a country like China refused to even share information in the initial stages, India has been very open and transparent about its engagement and also in terms of reaching out its neighbours helping them out despite its resource constraints. The fact that India has from the beginning talked of open engagement with the neighbours is an argument that India is trying to make about its reliability and sustainability of its partnership”. Professor Pant future added.

Last week top Indian officials led by EAM Jaishankar were simultaneously holding high level-meetings in Seychelles, Nepal and Sri Lanka, while also in discussion with the Maldives and Afghanistan. A Prime Ministerial summit with Bangladesh is coming up later this month; the only arch-rival is Pakistan.

On a two-day trip to Nepal last week, India’s foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla discussed the outstanding border dispute between the two, according to a press release issued by the Nepalese foreign ministry, while they “reviewed” aspects such as trade and connectivity.

In Colombo, around the same time, India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives came together for the fourth trilateral maritime security operation meeting – the first in six years – at which the three countries decided to step up security ties while expanding the scope of their agreement to improve intelligence sharing and include issues such as terrorism and radicalisation, according to the joint statement.

And on November 24, Jaishankar announced the launch of more than 100 projects in its US$80 million “High Impact Community Development Projects” scheme for Afghanistan, including the construction of a dam that will supply drinking water to Kabul. The external affairs ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Besides these efforts, New Delhi has also focused on Covid-19 diplomacy as an effective way of reaching out to its neighbours – in Kathmandu. Shringla said meeting Nepal’s vaccine requirement would be a priority for India, which had earlier last month agreed to share its vaccine with the Maldives. It has also distributed thousands of vials of Remdisivir, an antiviral drug that has been believed to be effective in treating the disease, to its neighbours.