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India and the great power contest in West Asia

Relevance

• GS Paper – 2 India and its Neighborhood, Groupings & Agreements Involving India and/or Affecting India’s Interests, Effect of Policies & Politics of Countries on India’s Interests.
• Tags: #G-20summitb#Two-partpolicyofUS #Saudi–Iran–Israelrivalry #MiddleEastCorridor #GulfArabs #IndianOceanregion(IOR).

 Why in the news?

• At the G-20 summit in New Delhi earlier this month, United States President Joe Biden and others unveiled a U.S.-backed infrastructure project to connect India, West Asia and Europe with shipping lanes, rail networks, pipelines and data cables.

Two-part policy of US:  

• Biden’s West Asia strategy has two parts. One is the continuation of the Trump-era policy of bringing America’s two pillars in the region — the Gulf Arabs and Israel — closer to meet their common geopolitical challenges such as Iran’s rise.
• The second part of Mr. Biden’s approach is to reassure America’s friends and allies that the U.S. is not exiting West Asia.

India -West Asia Cooperation

Areas of Cooperation

Energy

• 70 per cent of India’s imported energy needs come from West Asia and this dependence will only increase as the Indian economy continues to grow at 8 per cent or more.

Indian Diaspora

• 11 million Indians working in West Asia. Therefore, stability in the region is high on India’s core agenda.
• India is the largest recipient of foreign remittances from West Asia.

Counter Terrorism and Radicalization

• This has been another major area of cooperation. Considering the geographical proximity of West Asia , close cooperation with West Asia is important to prevent spread of terror outfits like Islamic State and  associated radical ideology into India.

Gateway to Central Asia

West Asia is gateway to land locked and energy rich Central Asian region.

Defence Cooperation

• India has been deepening defence cooperation with countries like the United Arab Emirates, Oman.
• India and Oman conduct regular bilateral exercisesbetween their forces and Oman also provides refuelling facility to Indian ships and aircraft.
• India recently has secured access to the key strategic Port of Duqm in Oman in Arabian Sea for military use and logistical support. It will further expand India’s footprint in the Indian Ocean region (IOR).
• This will strengthen India’s maritime strategy to counter Chinese influence and activities in the region.
• India and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to deepen their defence cooperation in a range of areas including military-to-military exchanges, training of personnel and defence production.

Challenges

Political Instability

• The security situation in West Asia has been continuously deteriorating ever since the onset of the Arab Spring in December 2010.
• The internal security situation in Syria, Iraq and Yemen has gone from bad to worse. The regional powers continue to fight proxy wars on sectarian lines, pumping huge amount of money and weapons to bolster their favoured groups.
• The involvement of extra-regional players such as the USA and Russia in the internal conflicts in West Asia (Syria )has further aggravated the situation.

Terrorism

• Terrorism has emerged as the biggest security threat in the region. The rise of the Islamic State and other terror groups has created threat to the Indian diaspora residing in West Asia.
• Alsoradicalization of Indian youth and they joining Islamic State  has been another major problem.

Saudi–Iran–Israel rivalry:

• The rivalry has been destabilizing West Asia and influencing West Asian geopolitics. The recent withdrawal of US from JCPOA can be seen through the prism of this rivalry.
• It will be a difficult task for India to continue to balance its relations with all three countries without antagonizing any of them

India– Israel close ties

• India’s deepening defense and strategic relations with Israel has not gone down well with
• Iran, which has started to play its China and Pakistan card to extract more from India.

Significance of the Policy of US on India 

• India’s presence in a grouping of the Abraham Accords countries was seen as a legitimate recognition of India’s presence in the region.
• The India-MiddleEast-Europe Corridor, announced at the G-20 summit enhances New Delhi’s standing.
• It seeks to build an economic corridor from India’s western coast, through the Gulf (the UAE and Saudi Arabia), Jordan and Israel, to the Mediterranean, bringing India and Europe closer.
• Back in 2012, leaders of India, Israel, the U.S. and the UAE held a virtual summit of what is now called the I2U2 minilateral.
• The idea behind I2U2 is to create a new platform that could expedite economic integration between West Asia and South Asia and offer economic and technological solutions to the problems faced by the Global South.
• If this project takes off, the U.S. hopes that it could retain its channels of influence in West Asia, control the major shipping lanes and reassure its allies of its staying capacity.

Scope for prospering in West Asia of India:

• For India, theS.-China competition in West Asia opens new avenues of engagement.
• The U.S. sees India, with its size, the size of its economy and the legacy of its historical engagement and cultural connection with the region, as an important partner in its bid to continue to shape West’s Asia’s geopolitics.
• India should welcome the moment but should not look at it through the prism of another Cold War — or it should not put all its eggs in one basket as it did in Afghanistan.
• It is already part of the near-functional International North-South Transport Corridor that connects India to Russia through Iran and Central Asia.
• The ‘Middle East Corridor ‘would open another economic channel.

Way forward

• India’s overall policy towards the region should stay anchored in this idea of multi-engagement — not in appeasing or containing any great power.
• With or without the U.S., or irrespective of China’s presence in the region, India should strive to play a major geopolitical role in West Asia, its extended neighborhood, without upsetting its traditional balance.

Source: The Hindu

Mains Question

Examine the challenges and opportunities for India in strengthening its relation with the countries of middle east/west Asia?