Importance of Indian Ocean security

The current conduct of Galle Dialogue 2011, focusing on security and related issues in the Indian Ocean region, under the aegis of the Lankan state, could be considered a signal honour that Sri Lanka has earned for itself. Issues centering on the Indian Ocean region were a hot topic in the fora of developing countries over two decades or more ago, but after the crumbling of the Cold War the vital importance of the Indian Ocean in world affairs has been allowed to be eclipsed somewhat by questions which the West considers important, such as, the so-called ‘Clash of Civilizations.’ Nevertheless, in the thinking of the developing world in particular, the Indian Ocean remains a Peace Zone and it would be in the fitness of things for the international community to bear this in mind.

However, the Indian Ocean region is coming into its own with the international spotlight tending to focus currently on the natural and strategic resource base of this principal ocean and the countries and regions surrounding it. In a highly lucid and cogent exposition at Galle Dialogue 2011, being held in our picturesque and historic city of the same name, attended by naval and military personnel of some 20 countries, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa drew attention yesterday to the continuing vital importance of security issues linked with the Indian Ocean,

While LTTE terror has been defeated there is a multiplicity of other threats to the security and well being of the Indian Ocean region, which the relevant states need to deal with, the Defence Secretary told the distinguished and high profile gathering of senior security personnel who had come together to deliberate under the theme: ‘Challenges and Strategic Cooperation for Indian Ocean Maritime Concerns.’ Some of these threats are: piracy, hard drug trafficking, people smuggling and rampant exploitation of fisheries and other vital resources.

Nevertheless, even the terror threat could not be considered as having been completely wiped out, because, as the Defence Secretary pointed out, the methodologies and tactics adopted by the LTTE to smuggle in arms from the high seas could be replicated by other terror organizations. Accordingly, the need is great for continuous cooperation among the states of the Indian Ocean littoral in particular, to address the threats at hand. It is to defuse these and other threats to the well being, security and integrity of Indian Ocean states, that a coming together of minds on the lines of the Galle Dialogue is essential.

It needs to be also borne in mind that the Indian Ocean region is part of a strategic resource belt that covers parts of South, South-West and East Asia, that is eagerly eyed by the more resource-hungry industrializing states of the world. This accounts for some of the tensions in the South and East China seas in particular some months back. Concurrently, some major powers are beginning to conceive the Pacific as a region where they need to maintain a strong naval presence.

These resource rich regions could be reached through parts of the Indian Ocean and the seaways leading through it and this is why the security and stability of the Indian Ocean become doubly important. Besides, the shipping currently winding its way through the Indian Ocean to East Asia in particular is phenomenal and if Asia’s growth plans are to proceed unhindered the security concerns of the Indian Ocean region have to be addressed.

While there is no denying that security threats emerging to states of the Indian Ocean region must be met squarely on a collective basis, the Indian Ocean’s importance to the economic growth of the Asian region should also be taken cognizance of fully. The West is fast diminishing in economic strength and along with this there is a tendency on the part of some its more ambitious powers to look beyond their geographical boundaries at the remaining resource-rich regions of the world to satisfy their burning hunger for energy in particular. This is yet another important reason why security threats to the Indian Ocean rim in particular should be confronted on a collective basis.

So, the developing countries in particular are being brought right back to the Indian Ocean Peace Zone concept. Generations past in our part of the world were absolutely right in upholding this concept and now we are being compelled by a confluence of vital developments to recognize its centrality to our well being.