Indian Ocean and Maritime Asia Pacific – An Assessment

20 Fevereiro 2018, 10:00 • Shiv Kumar Singh

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world’s five oceans, making up about 20% of Earth’s water. Named after the country of India, it is bordered by Asia to the north, Antarctica to the south, Australia to the east, and Africa to the west. The Indian Ocean boasts an area of approximately 28,360,000 square miles (73,440,000 sq km), including the Persian Gulf, Red Sea , Andaman Sea, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, Flores Sea, Great Australian Bight, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, Java Sea, Mozambique Channel, Savu Sea, Strait of Malacca, Timor Sea, and other tributary water bodies. The Indian Ocean is the youngest of the world’s major oceans.

The Indo-Pacific region is an area of both relative insecurity and strategic stability. It contains some significant flashpoints and has its fair share of border issues, acts of terrorism and overlapping maritime claims. robert Kaplan has argued in foreign affairs that the Indian ocean could be centre stage for the challenges of the twenty-first century, and that the maritime dimension is the key element of how geopolitics might play out.

The Pacific part of the Indo-Pacific region possesses significant multilateral structures like the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. most regional institutions revolve around the association of Southeast Asian nations (Asean), including the east Asian Summit (EaS), the Asean regional forum (ARF) and the various ‘Asean Plus’ groupings. the membership of the EAS includes India, but the various Asean-hubbed institutions have focused mainly on east Asia, while the Indian ocean region (IOR) has received less attention. although several pan-regional organizations exist in the IOR, such as the Indian ocean rim-association for regional Cooperation, the South Asian association for regional Cooperation, and the Indian ocean tuna Commission, none are entirely effective.

Southeast Asia is often regarded as a distinctively maritime sub-region. In many ways, it is the geographical centre of gravity for the wider Indo-Pacific region. Sitting astride significant chokepoints between the Indian and Pacific oceans, Southeast Asia also fringes the South China Sea, and is, thus, economically and strategically vital to the emerging economies of Asia. Southeast Asia’s westward maritime links, to the IOR, should be as strong as they currently are with east Asia. Increasingly, it makes sense to conceive of a wider Indo-Pacific region rather than the traditional conception of Asia-Pacific and its various sub- regions. economic connectivity across the Indo-Pacific region depends largely on maritime links, for trade and energy supplies needed to propel future growth. It is time to start turning this concept into a reality.

the Indian ocean is the world’s third largest ocean. much of the world’s trade in energy crosses the Indian ocean into Southeast Asian waters. with widespread concern for the security of sea lines of communication (SlOCS) across the IOR and Southeast Asia, there is no doubt that there will be renewed interest of extra-regional countries in the IOR. Strategically, we in Southeast Asia should be developing our links between the western Pacific and the Indian ocean.