INDIA
- WEST ASIA RELATIONS – INTERNATIONAL
News: India and the great power contest in
West Asia
What's
in the news?
●
At the G-20 summit in New Delhi, 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.
Key
takeaways:
●
A week earlier, a high-level U.S.
delegation had visited Saudi Arabia, chasing a normalisation agreement between
the Sunni kingdom and the Jewish state of Israel, two of America’s allies in
the region.
●
These seemingly unrelated but
geopolitically contiguous developments offer a broad framework of Mr. Biden’s
approach towards West Asia, a geo-strategically important region where the U.S.
had a domineering presence for decades, but which is now being challenged by
multiple factors.
India-West
Asia Relations:
●
The Arabs acted as a conduit to the West
taking Indian knowledge like numerals and traded Spices, foodstuffs, jewellery,
textiles and muslin and other goods flowed from India toward the Arab region,
while pearls and dates were exported from the Gulf region.
India-West
Asia Relations:
Background:
●
West Asia is a part of India’s extended
neighbourhood.
●
India has enjoyed exceptionally close
historic and civilizational ties with West Asia.
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Centuries old bilateral trade had
benefited both sides greatly as it enhanced their knowledge and understanding
of each other.
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For decades, India was a passive player in
West Asia – a beneficiary of good relationships with multiple actors.
●
During the Cold War years, India
maintained close economic cooperation with both Saudi Arabia and Iran, the
rival poles in regional geopolitics.
●
In the post-Soviet world, the
bi-directional approach has been expanded to a tri-directional foreign policy
to accommodate the three key pillars of West Asia – Saudi Arabia, Iran, and
Israel.
●
India adopted the Look West policy in
2005.
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India has huge stakes involved in the
region such as energy, trade, and safety of the Indian community in the region.
Significance
of West Asia for India:
1.
Energy security – 70% of India’s imported energy needs
come from West Asia.
2.
Gateway to Central Asia – West Asia is also a gateway to
land locked and energy rich central Asia.
3.
Trade & Investment – The economic ties between India
and the GCC countries are moving at a faster pace increasing the mutual
interdependence
4. UAE and Saudi Arabia
are India’s third and fourth-largest
trading partners respectively.
5.
Economic Growth – India is the largest recipient of
foreign remittances from West Asia, which plays a significant role in India’s
growth.
6.
Indian Diaspora – Six West Asian countries (UAE, Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Bahrain) accounted for nearly 70% of all
Indians who live abroad.
7.
Culture & Religion – India hosts the 3rd largest Muslim
population in the world, which views Saudi Arabia as its important pilgrimage.
8.
Regional Connectivity – India has invested in Iran’s Chabahar
port which is expected to a bridge of trade between India, Iran and Central
Asia along with Afghanistan.
9.
Defence – India has a strong defence and security partnership
with Israel which is useful for its security and military modernization drive.
10.
Regional Stability – close cooperation is essential with
west Asian nations to counter radicalization and rising terrorism in the
region.
11.
Maritime Diplomacy – West Asia is an integral part of
India’s Indo-Pacific maritime domain.
●
Naval cooperation has already been gaining
momentum with Oman giving berthing rights to Indian naval vessels to fight
piracy in the Gulf of Aden.
Challenges
in India-West Asia Relations:
1.
Political constraints – India’s narrow bureaucratic approach
towards the Gulf was incapable of a political engagement with the region’s
interests.
●
For example, India viewed gulf countries
through the prism of Pakistan.
2.
Low Investments – Despite India’s growing stature in the
Gulf, it has not been able to attract substantial Arab investment.
●
FDI from the GCC countries between 2000
and 2014 has remained stagnant at $3.2 billion.
●
There is a wide gap between the
investments that the Gulf is ready to offer and India’s ability to absorb
needs.
●
In 2015, Abu Dhabi committed to invest $75
billion in India. Still, India is a long distance away from facilitating that
scale of investments.
3.
China factor – China has made rapid inroads in the
Gulf by having acquired equity stakes in the region’s upstream oil and gas
sector and having successfully penetrated Arab markets.
●
China is continuously making inroads to
west Asia through OBOR initiative.
●
India’s incapacity to manage its own
periphery, South Asia, has made Gulf Arabs more inclined to seek China as a
better security partner, rather than India.
4.
Pakistan factor – India’s “trust deficit” with Pakistan
has incapacitated India from advancing its commercial interests in West Asia,
including the bringing to fruition of the Iran-India-Pakistan (IPI) and
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline projects.
5.
Arab slowdown & Nationalization – the decline of oil and
gas prices, along with the rising cost of “war conditions” has led to the
slowing of Arab Gulf economies, resulting in salary cuts, layoffs, contracting
employment opportunities, and nationalization of workforces at the cost of the
Indian expatriate community.
Domestic
Challenges within West Asia:
1.
Political instability – The security situation in West Asia has
been continuously deteriorating ever since the onset of the Arab Spring in
December 2010. E.g., Syria, Yemen, and Iraq crisis.
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The GCC-Iran rivalry, Shia-Sunni conflict,
external intervention in the region, the fear of rise of religious radicalism
etc. have further contributed to instability in West Asia.
2.
Involvement of global and regional powers – The involvement
of extra-regional players such as the USA and Russia in the internal conflicts
in West Asia has further aggravated the situation.
3.
Terrorism – Terrorism has emerged as the biggest security
threat to the region. The rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is
the most disturbing trend.
4.
Regional Conflicts – such as the Arab-Israel conflict,
Israel-Palestine conflict and the Saudi-Iran rivalry create a destabilizing
effect in West Asia.
5.
US Sanctions on Iran - US withdrawal from Iran nuclear deal
and has threatened to impose economic sanctions on Iran. This may weaken the
dialogue mechanisms, embolden conservatives, and may threaten regional
stability even more.
●
India also has significant oil trade with
Iran and stakes in connectivity through Chabahar port and other projects.
West Asia is one of the most volatile and sensitive regions in the
world marked by historical injustices, intra-regional rivalries and competition
for religious supremacy and loyalties. India treads its path very carefully
and without prejudice. This has earned India the trust of almost all countries
in the region and they look at India as an honest partner and friend.