NEW DELHI: Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday highlighted the significance of the Indo-Pacific region saying that rising challenges there called for a strategy on a priority basis.
He was delivering the keynote address at the 2023 edition of the Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue (IPRD). “As the fastest growing economy, India seeks a free and peaceful rule-based Indo-Pacific region with an open and unrestricted flow of legitimate commerce,” he said, stressing that freedom of navigation and over-flight facilities was central under the established international laws and conventions.
“We seek a just global regulatory regime that respects the right over the exclusive economic zone for the sustainable and equitable exploitation of marine resources and sea-bed in high seas,” Dhankhar said. The Vice-President observed that “as India’s economic prowess grows, so do our stakes in global and regional affairs with accompanying challenges.” He called for evolving a strategy to fortify India’s position as a ready, resurgent, and relevant stakeholder among the nations of the region.
The Vice-President said much is happening among 38 countries in the Pacific region, comprising Africa, Asia and Oceania. “This region, home to 64% of the global population, contributes 62 per cent of the global GDP. Half of the global trade and 40 per cent of oil pass through the Indo-Pacific region. In the context of Bharat, 90 per cent of our trade and 80 per cent of our critical freight needs — coal, petroleum & gas, iron ore and fertilizers — pass through the area.”
In her address, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the ambitions multinational connectivity project, the India Middle East Corridor is “a win-win situation for all nations involved. “But it is not without its geopolitical challenges; the ongoing conflict in Gaza is a worrying manifestation of these.” The theme of IPRD this year is ‘Geopolitical Impacts upon Maritime Connectivity.’
“The IMEC can enhance transportation efficiency, reduce logistic costs, increase economic unity, generate employment, and lower the Greenhouse emissions,” she said. Sarah Storey, deputy high commissioner, Australian High Commission, pointed at the rising Chinese activities amid competition among great powers. “We see that with our own eyes in the South China Sea, in the Pacific and of course, in India’s own backyard,” she said. “The Indo-Pacific is witnessing an unprecedented, big military modernisation and expansion — the biggest it has seen in the last 80 years,” Storey said.
“China’s defence budget eclipses the next 17 highest spending countries in the Indo-Pacific combined. The PLA Navy has more than doubled its fleet of principal combatants in just a decade,” she said. Speaking at the same platform, Indian Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar called the security situation in the South China Sea fragile, which, “in addition to the happening of violations of established codes of conduct or confidence-building measures, poses a clear and present danger to good order and discipline at sea.”
Significance
Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar said much is happening amongst 38 countries in the Pacific region, comprising Africa, Asia and Oceania. “This region, home to 64% of the global population, contributes 62 per cent of the global GDP. Half of the global trade and 40 per cent of oil pass through the Indo-Pacific region. In the context of Bharat, 90 per cent of our trade and 80 per cent of our critical freight needs — coal, petroleum & gas, iron ore and fertilizers — pass through the area,” he said.