The Indian Navy, which has played a large role in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations in the Asia-Pacific since the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004, is finalising a standard operating procedure (SOP) for dealing with natural disasters in the region. The creation of an SOP for natural disasters comes shortly after the Navy […]
Shortly after participating in Foreign Minister-level discussion with the UAE, the US and Israel on maritime security, among many other issues, India joined the 34-member Combined Maritime Force (CMF) based in Bahrain. These two initiatives demonstrate India’s enthusiasm to be an active participant in various strategic platforms to secure the Indian Ocean Region against maritime […]
The conduct of Phase II of the MALABAR 2021 maritime exercise, in the Bay of Bengal, intends to enhance integrated maritime operations between the QUAD countries within the Indian Ocean Region. Manoeuvres by the French Navy’s signals intelligence vessel Dupuy-de-Lôme in the Taiwan Strait indicates growing opposition to Chinese military intimidation and strengthens the argument […]
The exchange of white shipping information between the Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) near New Delhi and the Maritime Security Center (MSC) in Muscat, shows consistency of effort by India to “enhance maritime safety and security in the region”. Such a high-technology approach to detect and deter maritime security threats in the Indian Ocean […]
The removal of Kenyan maritime waters within the Indian Ocean from the piracy red list, 12 years after it was designated a high-risk area (HRA), represents the growing success of global efforts to combat piracy around the Horn of Africa. The seriousness of all stakeholders, which led to increased surveillance and joint maritime patrols by […]
Abstract International straits, by way of geography—resulting in their reference as ‘choke points’—and function, are a crucial component of the maritime domain. This is particularly true of the Indian Ocean Region within which India holds a prime position while being surrounded by ‘choke points’ on both its eastern and western seaboards. While these choke points […]
The introduction of the new economic security bill by Japan is being touted as a geopolitical tool to safeguard Tokyo’s cutting-edge technology from being exploited by the likes of Russia, China and North Korea. At the same time, it is also being promoted as a means to secure the domestic supply-chain of sensitive items such […]
Introduction In a series of articles published since 2020, assessments on non-traditional maritime security threats to India, such as armed robbery, climate change, drug trafficking have been made. This article explores the maritime dimensions of smuggling in India, and is a follow-on to an earlier article of December 20201 that focused on the maritime dimensions […]
Biodiversity Conservation and Maritime Security Biological diversity, or biodiversity, is defined as the “variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.”[1] In accordance with the Convention of Biodiversity […]
Introduction In its 2019 “Indo-Pacific Strategy Report”, the US emphasised preparedness, partnerships, and the promotion of a networked region to realise a free and open, safe, secure, and prosperous region. Moving ahead, its 2022 Indo-Pacific Strategy document, released in February 2022, visualises the region as free and open, more connected, prosperous, secure, and resilient. Although […]
In a recent article entitled “Filling in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework”, Matthew P Goodman and William Alan Reinsch commented that the Biden Administration is all set to launch the “Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF)” as the proposed vehicle for US economic engagement in the Indo-Pacific region.[1] The authors have highlighted the fact that a credible and […]