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Bateman, Sam --- "Book Review: Confidence Building from the Sea - an Indian Initiative" [2003] MarStudies 17; (2003) 130 Maritime Studies 28

• BOOK REVIEW
• Confidence Building from the Sea – an Indian Initiative

BOOK REVIEW

Confidence Building from the Sea – an Indian Initiative

By Commander Vijay Sakhuja IN

Knowledge World, New Delhi, 2001

viii, 128pp., figures and tables, index

RRP: Rs650.00

(Available from Knowledge World, 5A/12 Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi 110 002)

This book is the report of a study conducted under the auspices of the United Service Institution of India of the role played by India in preserving order at sea and promoting confidence building in the Indian Ocean region. As the author notes in his Preface, ‘there is no doubt that India seeks a greater role in regional political and security affairs, commensurate with its size, geography, large Exclusive Economic Zone, growing economy and nuclear and military capabilities’. Since the study was completed, India’s role has been further boosted by the developing strategic relationship between India and the United States that includes a strong maritime dimension with regular exercises between the USN and the IN, and the IN cooperating with the USN in escorting high value shipping through the Malacca Straits.

Commander Sakhuja is well qualified to write knowledgeably on maritime confidence building and the role of India. As well as having the practical knowledge of a serving naval officer, he has pursued academic interests and has been a Research Fellow at the prestigious Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) in New Delhi. He has written extensively on maritime security issues and presented papers at numerous seminars and conferences, including meetings of the Maritime Cooperation Working Group established by the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP).

The opening chapter of Confidence Building from the Sea provides a useful summary of the development of the concept of confidence building, including the work of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) in building confidence between NATO and the Warsaw Pact countries. An extremely useful ‘dictionary’ of confidence building measures (CBMs) is provided that establishes a hierarchy of possible measures. This is a ‘building block’ approach that suggests the relevance of different CBMs against different probabilities of conflict (or levels of tension) and levels of confidence provided. The process starts with conflict avoidance measures to avoid unwanted conflict and unintended escalation and moves through various trust and confidence building measures to the variety of operational and political confidence and security building measures (CSBMs) providing high levels of confidence and reducing the probability of conflict. Wisely, the author warns that ‘each region has its own unique peculiarities’ (p. 8) and that measures from the European model of CBMs and CSBMs may not be appropriate to the Asia-Pacific region.

Subsequent chapters of the study situate confidence building in the context of the realities of the contemporary law of the sea and the maritime geopolitics of the Indian Ocean region. Particular consideration is given to naval developments in the region, including the so-called China factor, and the naval security environment faced by India on its western and eastern seaboards. While the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) provides the basis of good order at sea and has many confidence building facets itself (not least of all, a regime for settling law of the sea disputes), it also provides the basis for expanding national jurisdiction at sea and this frequently leads to conflicting or overlapping claims to maritime jurisdiction. The exclusive economic zone (EEZ) regime is particularly problematic in this regard. A minor point of criticism here is that some of the references to UNCLOS Articles given in the study are incorrect.

The emphasis on maritime strategic geography in the study is both appropriate and useful. Indeed this is a strong point of the work. India is clearly a maritime State with extensive maritime interests. It dominates the Indian Ocean and the vital sea lines of communication (SLOCs) in that ocean, particularly the vital tanker route between the Middle East and East Asia and the main around the world container route between Europe and Asia. India is extremely well placed to play a positive and stabilizing role in ensuring good order at sea in the region, including in the vital ‘choke points’ in the approaches to the Malacca Strait in the Bay of Bengal, and the Straits of Hormuz and the Red Sea in the Arabian Sea. An example of this approach is the leading role taken by India in dealing with problems of law and order at sea, including piracy, arms smuggling and drug trafficking.

The study notes that the present bilateral relations between India and Pakistan ‘are beset by suspicion, mistrust and hostility’ (p. 82) and that although there are some CBMs in place, there are relatively few naval confidence building measures. The study goes on to make some specific recommendations for redressing this situation not just in the context of the bilateral India-Pakistan relationship but in the wider context of the Northeast and Northwest Indian Ocean. As Sakhuja notes, ‘the security environment in the Bay of Bengal-Andaman Sea area and the Arabian Sea is challenged from several directions’ and ‘Some of these challenges have the potential to spark a conflict’ (p. 116). India’s initiatives in for example, encouraging bilateral naval exercises and hosting multilateral naval ‘get togethers’ are welcome and positive steps towards promoting regional maritime cooperation and confidence.

Confidence Building at Sea is an excellent and succinct exposition of India’s role in promoting maritime confidence building and establishing good order at sea. It should be of interest both to people concerned with security issues in the Indian Ocean region and to those interested in the processes of maritime confidence building in the Asia-Pacific region more generally.

Sam Bateman

Centre for Maritime Policy

University of Wollongong