A free, open, and rule-based maritime order is a priority for all and “might is right” has no place in such a maritime order, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday. His comments come against the backdrop of growing Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea and rapid expansion of maritime presence by Beijing in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
Mr. Singh said that establishing multinational collaborative frameworks was a must to tackle the maritime challenges of the region.
He was addressing the fourth edition of the biennial Goa Maritime Conclave (GMC), which brought together chiefs of Navies and heads of maritime agencies of 12 countries in the IOR.
Speaking on the outcome of the conclave, Navy Chief Admiral R. Hari Kumar said the last conclave in 2021 had worked on finding common maritime priorities. “And thereafter in this conclave, we are looking at generating the collaborative mitigating framework to address these priorities,” he said.
Also Read: View From India | Dispute in the South China Sea
Admiral Kumar said the GMC had evolved from a small construct of heads of maritime security agencies to a functional construct dealing with transnational challenges in the IOR.
The conclave is being attended by the Defence Minister of Comoros, Mohamed Ali Youssoufa, as well as chiefs of Navies, heads of maritime forces, and senior representatives from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
Mr. Singh said that adherence to international laws and agreements must be the guiding star, and added that narrow immediate interests may tempt one to flout or disregard the well-established international law, but doing so would lead to the breakdown of civilised maritime relations. “Our common security and prosperity cannot be preserved without all of us committing to cooperatively adhering to the legitimate maritime rules of engagement. Fair rules of engagement are crucial for fostering collaboration and ensuring that no single country dominates others in a hegemonic manner,” he said.
Also Read | Chinese militia boats cross Indian, ASEAN warships exercising in South China Sea
Mr. Singh, as well the Navy chief, flagged the issue of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, a growing concern among countries in the IOR. Chinese deep-fishing trawlers, especially, resort to this method.
“IUU fishing endangers ocean ecosystems and sustainable fishery. It also threatens our economic security and regional and global food security. A multinational collaborative effort for compilation and sharing of surveillance data is the need of the hour. It will help in identifying actors with irregular or threatening behaviour, which will have to be countered resolutely,” Mr. Singh said.
Anil Kumarsing Dip, Commissioner of Police of Mauritius, termed the surge in illegal drug trafficking through sea routes as one of the most dangerous and grave menace to maritime security in the IOR. “The bane of drugs has become a major concern in our society with a number of youth falling prey to this menace adding to social insecurities. Drug trafficking is further interlinked to maritime terrorism. With huge profit margins, drug trafficking is, by far, the most lucrative means of generating funds to fuel ever-growing terrorist activities and insurgencies around the region,” he said.
With the vast expanse of the Indian Ocean, intricate geography, porous borders, jurisdictional complexities, and the transnational nature of trafficking networks, law enforcement and drug regulation agencies face formidable obstacles, Mr. Dip said in his address. International legal frameworks for jurisdiction and extradition often for do not align with the dynamic nature of drug trafficking, enabling traffickers to exploit legal gaps, he noted.
Inadequate information sharing among countries of the IOR impedes collaborative efforts against drug trafficking, Mr. Dip said, adding, “Legal barriers to sharing sensitive information further complicate counter-narcotics operations.”
In his presentation, First Admiral Tay Yap Leong, Senior Director of the Malaysian Institute of Defence and Security, flagged several maritime security challenges, including terrorism, IUU fishing, territorial and maritime disputes, transnational crime, piracy and armed robbery, environmental threats, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, humanitarian and disaster response challenges, and geopolitical competition.
The conclave focused on identifying gaps in regulatory and legal frameworks for achieving maritime security, formulation of a common multilateral maritime strategy and operating protocols for GMC nations for collective mitigation of threats and identification, and establishment of collaborative training programmes with centre of excellence across the IOR.
