India in the Indo-Pacific: Deepening ties with Singapore
India in the Indo-Pacific: Deepening ties with Singapore
WRITTEN BY ANEEDRISHA HAZARIKA
12 May 2020
For the ASEAN nations, India’s indispensability in the strategic equation of the Indo-Pacific is now firmly established. However, this acceptance hasn’t come easy.
To India’s credit, the Look East Policy and its subsequent Act East version, which primarily focuses on bettering economic ties with ASEAN, has worked in India’s favour. Notwithstanding the efficacy of these policies, India’s active defence diplomacy in the region has also been responsible for bringing about this change.
Singapore and Vietnam are two states of the region wherein India’s defence diplomacy is most extensive. However, it is Singapore’s overt emphasis on great power engagement, in a bid to maintain a sub-regional balance of power in the region that has always benefitted India. Taking into perspective China’s recent manoeuvres in the South China Sea, and the turmoil that may ensue once the COVID-19 pandemic subsides; it is in India's interest to further cultivate its strong ties with this influential city-state, lest it is too late.
The predicament of a small city state
Despite being a small city state, Singapore has been investing substantially on its military. What explains this consistency is the deep sense of insecurity and uncertainty of a small country embedded in an ever-volatile neighbourhood of bigger nations.
Since India started the Look East policy, Singapore has become a crucial link to the whole region. Singapore has been India's strongest supporter, advocating for India's entry as a significant player in the regional multilateral dynamics.
Singapore has also vehemently maintained the stance of “active deterrence” as the cornerstone of its defence policy in a bid to offset any threat that may ultimately impinge on its economic prowess. This very exigency pushes Singapore's defence policy makers to resolutely keep out of any military arrangements. Towards this end, it expects an active great power engagement with the objective of nullifying any one of them having the upper hand. Accordingly, Singapore widely engages with extra-regional powers in security cooperation.
India’s defence diplomacy with Singapore
So far, India has been successful in tapping into the requirements of Singapore and in the process forging a robust defence relationship. Without delving into the finer constraints of what constitutes defence diplomacy, it can be broadly accepted to include military actions with a direct public connect such as disaster relief, development assistance and humanitarian aid. It will also encompass military to military activities such as officer exchanges, joint exercises, and training programmes as well as military activities with only diplomatic motives such as port calls by naval ships as well as the participation in parades that have considerable public exposure.
Going by this definition, India’s defence diplomacy in Singapore fits the bill completely. For instance, both the countries are strategic partners that have been consistent in maintaining the defence diplomacy in the form of regular bilateral military exercises, viz. Exercise Bold Kurukshetra, Exercise Agni Warrior for the armies, Singapore India Maritime Bilateral Exercise (SIMBEX) for the navies and Joint Military Training (JMT) between the air force of the two countries. Since Singapore has a dearth of domestic land and airspace, it counts on India for access to crucial overseas training facilities, including the sensitive submarine and the anti-submarine warfare training schools.
The robust naval diplomacy also translates in the Republic of Singapore Navy’s (RSN) regular participation in the prestigious MILAN multilateral exercises. RSN also participated in MALABAR 2007 in Okinawa, Japan, which for the first time took place outside the Indian Ocean.
The road ahead
Ever since India started the Look East policy, Singapore has become a crucial link to the whole region. Singapore has been India's strongest supporter, advocating for India's entry as a significant player in the regional multilateral dynamics.
Although this has resulted in some success, such as India being included into ASEAN-led multilateral frameworks of the region, starting from 1992 as ASEAN Sectoral Dialogue Partner, in 1995 as Full Dialogue Partner, in 1996 with ASEAN Regional Forum membership, becoming ASEAN Summit Level Partner in 2002 and in 2005 its inclusion in the East Asia Summit, a lot of ground is yet to be covered. Singapore is also cognizant of India’s capacity to extend influence in the region and in the process counterbalance Chinese unilateral aggression. To this end, India should take this relationship seriously and nurture the strategic bond. India’s “benign” image of a democracy with a credible history of non-interference comes handy in this regard. Also, in today’s times when the conventional image of a soldier or military personnel has given way to the new image, one that of a “soldier diplomat”, India should further leverage the soft power potential of the conventional hard power instrument.
India’s position on furthering the concept of a rule-based, free and open Indo-Pacific construct, and its emphasis on ASEAN centrality, will eventually depend on how it “manages” the Chinese rise. Singapore remains a steadfast and trustworthy partner in this endeavour.
DISCLAIMER: All views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent that of the 9DASHLINE.com platform.
Author biography
Aneedrisha Hazarika is a doctoral fellow at the Centre for Indo-Pacific Studies, School of International Relations, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She is presently working on the contours of Sino-Indian competition in Myanmar. Before this, she researched on the concept of India's defence diplomacy as a soft power tool in Southeast Asia for her M.Phil. Image credit: Minstry of External Affairs/Flickr.