Rivalry Increases, Maritime Cooperation Needed

MH Samsul Hadi

· 4 minutes read

KARACHI, KOMPAS — The presence of major countries with their own interests is increasingly felt in the Indian Ocean region. Maritime stability and security are needed in the region amid growing rivalry and other threats.

Naval cooperation between countries is very vital to maintaining stability and security. This was a concern at the 2019 SAFE international maritime conference, which is a series of Multinational Navy Training in Karachi, Pakistan, on Saturday and Sunday. The conference lasts three days and will end this Monday.

The conference was opened by Pakistani President Arif Alvi on Saturday and is expected to produce recommendations and solutions to strengthen maritime cooperation in the Indian Ocean region.

President Arif Alvi said the Indian Ocean was a strategic gateway for food, maritime transportation and energy supply for the world.

"The presence of major power countries in the Indian Ocean region marks the importance of the region in a complex security environment," Arif said.

Former Pakistani Foreign Ministry secretary general Salman Bashir said the global geopolitical transition – marked by increasing United States and Chinese and Russian rivalries – had contributed to tensions in the region. The US Indo-Pacific strategy and uncertainty over US global policies have triggered anxiety.

Syed Rifaat Hussein, an analyst with Pakistan\'s National University of Science and Technology (NUST), during a conference session on Sunday explained several issues that made maritime security in the Indian Ocean region even more important.

He detailed a number of things, starting from a population of more than 1.8 billion people in the region, the problem of acute poverty, direct interaction between five nuclear countries, until protracted conflict in Kashmir and Afghanistan.

“The structure of power dominated by India and the resistance from Pakistan has made the [Pakistani] state locked in a competitive strategy with India,” Hussein said.

Competition

From Kompas\' observation, the competition between the two countries was felt from the 2019 AMAN Multinational Navy Training event, which was held by the Pakistan Navy. India is not included in the list of 46 invited countries. In fact, since the event was first held in 2007,

Pakistan has never invited India.

Since their independence from Britain in 1947, relations between the two countries have been strained, especially related to the conflict in the Jammu and Kashmir regions. In the eyes of Islamabad, Jammu and Kashmir are disputed areas. As for New Delhi, the region is an inseparable part of India.

Adding to the serious tension, both Pakistan and India are nuclear states. At this maritime conference forum, Pakistani Navy chief of staff Adm. Zafar Mahmood Abbasi briefly questioned the issue of Kashmir – juxtaposed with Palestine – regarding the right to self-determination as stipulated in the Charter of the United Nations and the Declaration of Human Rights.

Chinese influence

The Indian Ocean is now not only important for countries bordering the ocean. China, a country that does not border the Indian Ocean, has greater importance regarding the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the region.

One of BRI\'s projects, the Pakistan-China Economic Corridor (CPEC), reaches Pakistani territory through the investment development of Gwadar Port worth around US$60 billion.

Gwadar Port is located in the Arabian Sea, Pakistan region, and is predicted to be the industrial hub of the region, which provides easy access for Central Asia, Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa.

"Facing a challenging security environment, China and countries in the Indian Ocean region must work together for a common, cooperative and sustainable security goal for the future of the region," said Yan Yan, research director of China\'s Sea Law and Policy Center.

MH Samsul Hadi

from Karachi, Pakistan.

Editor:

kompascetak