War games in Indian Ocean: India-US-Japan Malabar exercise to raise stakes

The stakes in the new game unfolding in the Indian Ocean are rising by the day. Against the backdrop of China’s growing clout and assertiveness in the region, the world’s three maritime democracies, the US, Japan and India, are set to conduct joint naval exercises in October. It’s not official yet, but senior military officials from India, US and Japan met at an American Navy base in Yokosuka, near Tokyo on July 22 to discuss the details of the forthcoming Malabar Naval exercises.

The three countries, who also hold a trilateral meeting every year, are expected to deny that the exercise is targeted at China, but Beijing will be watching closely how the Malabar exercise plays out.

While China objected to Japan’s Defence Review, it has not reacted with the same intensity so far on the proposed joint naval exercises between the three countries. The last time the exercise was held where Australia, Japan and Singapore were also invited by India to its drills with the US navy elicited such a strong reaction from Beijing that it was never held after that.

The event is likely to send alarm bells ringing in Beijing, with more alliances being formed in the region against it. While China may have made inroads into the global financial system by setting up new financial institutions challenging the US, the US retains its military clout in the region, and still dominates the seas due to its naval superiority. China sees this strategy of the US as the one similar to forming groups such as NATO and a US-led security grouping in Asia-Pacific.

The Indian Ocean has become a bone of contention between India and China with China saying India should not treat it as its backyard where India wants to be the dominant player in the region. China, on the other hand, is making inroads into the region by reportedly building naval bases near Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

New Delhi’s decision to expand the Malabar exercises, which it conducts with the US navy in the region, signals India’s needs to enhance maritime security in the region by forming alliances with like-minded countries, which are also wary of China’s growing aggression in the region. The inclusion of Japan in Malabar 2015 also shows Tokyo’s new strategy to assert itself militarity. With China’s rising strength in the Asia-Pacific region, it may well have been inevitable that Japan had to enter the game sooner or later.

The recent docking of Chinese submarines at Karachi passing through Indian waters and Sri Lanka earlier, had caused much concern in the security establishment in New Delhi. With the US ever ready to strengthen its interests in Asia-Pacific and looking to strengthen alliances in the region, it would welcome any pro-active approach by India. India, on the other hand, has also signalled its priorities and has clearly shown it is strengthening its alliance with both the US and Japan, especially the US with whom it released a Joint Vision Statement on the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region.

India’s growing strategic partnership with the US is clearly evident as both countries seem to be working closely with each other, more than at any other point of time in history. If there were any doubts about India re-energising its relationship with the US, then those doubts have almost certainly been laid to rest.

Author Profile

India Writes Network: India Writes Network (www.indiawrites.org) is an emerging think tank and a media-publishing company focused on international affairs & the India Story. Centre for Global India Insights is the research arm of India Writes Network. To subscribe to India and the World, write to editor@indiawrites.org. A venture of TGII Media Private Limited, a leading media, publishing and consultancy company, IWN has carved a niche for balanced and exhaustive reporting and analysis of international affairs. Eminent personalities, politicians, diplomats, authors, strategy gurus and news-makers have contributed to India Writes Network, as also “India and the World,” a magazine focused on global affairs.