Maritime Security in the Indo-Pacific

Perspectives from China, India, and the United States

Edited by Mohan Malik

In the twenty-first century, the Indo-Pacific, which spans from the western Pacific Ocean to the western Indian Ocean along the eastern coast of Africa, has emerged as a crucial geostrategic region for trade, investment, energy supplies, cooperation, and competition. It presents complex maritime security challenges and interlocking economic interests that require the development of an overarching multilateral security framework. This volume develops common approaches by focusing on geopolitical challenges, transnational security concerns, and multilateral institution-building and cooperation. The chapters, written by a cross-section of practitioners, diplomats, policymakers, and scholars from the three major powers discussed (United States, China, India) explain the opportunities and risks in the Indo-Pacific region and identify specific naval measures needed to enhance maritime security in the region.

Maritime Security in the Indo-Pacific opens by introducing the Indo-Pacific and outlining the roles of China, India, and the United States in various maritime issues in the region. It then focuses on the security challenges presented by maritime disputes, naval engagement, legal issues, sea lanes of communication, energy transport, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, as well as by nontraditional threats, such as piracy, terrorism, and weapons proliferation. It compares and contrasts the roles and perspectives of the key maritime powers, analyzing the need for multilateral cooperation to overcome the traditional and nontraditional challenges and security dilemma. This shows that, in spite of their different interests, capabilities, and priorities, Washington, Beijing and New Delhi can and do engage in cooperation to deal with transnational security challenges. Lastly, the book describes how to promote maritime cooperation by establishing or strengthening multilateral mechanisms and measures that would reduce the prospects for conflict in the Indo-Pacific region.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 310 • Trim: 6½ x 9¼

978-1-4422-3532-8 • Hardback • September 2014 • $93.00 • (£72.00)

978-1-4422-3533-5 • eBook • September 2014 • $88.00 • (£68.00)

Subjects: Political Science / Security (National & International), Political Science / International Relations / General, Political Science / International Relations / Diplomacy

Maritime Security in the Indo-Pacific

Perspectives from China, India, and the United States

Hardback

eBook

Summary

In the twenty-first century, the Indo-Pacific, which spans from the western Pacific Ocean to the western Indian Ocean along the eastern coast of Africa, has emerged as a crucial geostrategic region for trade, investment, energy supplies, cooperation, and competition. It presents complex maritime security challenges and interlocking economic interests that require the development of an overarching multilateral security framework. This volume develops common approaches by focusing on geopolitical challenges, transnational security concerns, and multilateral institution-building and cooperation. The chapters, written by a cross-section of practitioners, diplomats, policymakers, and scholars from the three major powers discussed (United States, China, India) explain the opportunities and risks in the Indo-Pacific region and identify specific naval measures needed to enhance maritime security in the region.

Maritime Security in the Indo-Pacific opens by introducing the Indo-Pacific and outlining the roles of China, India, and the United States in various maritime issues in the region. It then focuses on the security challenges presented by maritime disputes, naval engagement, legal issues, sea lanes of communication, energy transport, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, as well as by nontraditional threats, such as piracy, terrorism, and weapons proliferation. It compares and contrasts the roles and perspectives of the key maritime powers, analyzing the need for multilateral cooperation to overcome the traditional and nontraditional challenges and security dilemma. This shows that, in spite of their different interests, capabilities, and priorities, Washington, Beijing and New Delhi can and do engage in cooperation to deal with transnational security challenges. Lastly, the book describes how to promote maritime cooperation by establishing or strengthening multilateral mechanisms and measures that would reduce the prospects for conflict in the Indo-Pacific region.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 310 • Trim: 6½ x 9¼

978-1-4422-3532-8 • Hardback • September 2014 • $93.00 • (£72.00)

978-1-4422-3533-5 • eBook • September 2014 • $88.00 • (£68.00)

Subjects: Political Science / Security (National & International), Political Science / International Relations / General, Political Science / International Relations / Diplomacy

Author

Editor:
Mohan Malik is Professor at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is the author of several books, most recently China and India: Great Power Rivals (2011), and has contributed numerous articles on Asian security issues in journals such as Asian Survey, China Quarterly, Comparative Strategy, Contemporary Security Policy, Orbis, Pacific Affairs, and World Policy Journal. His op-eds have appeared in Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, Japan Times, The Diplomat, and YaleGlobal Online.Dr. Malik has testified before the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), and done consultancy work for the SAIC, Booze Allen Hamilton, Australian Department of Defence, and Jane’s Information Group.

Contributors:
Commodore (Retd) C. Uday Bhaskar Distinguished Fellow with Society for Policy Studies and Visiting Fellow for National Maritime Foundation, (NMF), New Delhi, India. He retired from the Indian Navy in early 2007, after 37 years of service. He was recently the Director of National Maritime Foundation (2009-2011) and was earlier associated with the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) in New Delhi.

Lou Chunhao is associate research professor and assistant director, Institute of Maritime Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR) in Beijing, China.

Zhao Gancheng is director and senior fellow at the Center for Asia-Pacific Studies at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS). Previously, he was Director of Institute of International Strategic Studies and Center (IISSC) for South Asia Studies at the SIIS.

Probal Kumar Ghosh is senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in New Delhi. He was the lead Co-Chairman and India Representative to the Council for Security Cooperation in Asia Pacific (CSCAP) International Study Group on Naval Enhancement in Asia-Pacific Region and Co-Chairman of the CSCAP Maritime Study Group. Dr. Ghosh received the prestigious Professor D.S. Kothari DRDO Chair (Kothari Fellow-2005) at the USI; and a Research Fellow at the IDSA for two fellowship tenures.

Zhang Haiwen is senior research fellow and Deputy Director-General of China Institute for Marine Affairs (CIMA), State Oceanic Administration (SOA) and Secretary-General of China Society of the Law of the Sea.

Scott Harold is an associate political scientist at The RAND Corporation, where he specializes in Chinese foreign policy, East Asian security, and international affairs. Prior to joining RAND in August 2008, Dr. Harold worked at The Brookings Institution’s John L. Thornton China Center from 2006-2008.

James R. Holmes is professor of strategy at the U.S. Naval War College. A former U.S. Navy Surface Warfare Officer, he served on board the battleship Wisconsin, directed an engineering course at the Surface Warfare Officers School Command, and served as Military Professor at the Naval War College, College of Distance Education.

Srikanth Kondapalli is professor in Chinese Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. He was a Visiting Fellow at China’s People’s University, China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, and Taiwan’s National Chengchi University. He was Honorary Professor at Shandong University, Jinan in 2009 and 2011; and a Fellow at Salzburg Global Seminar in 2010. He has authored two books, two monographs and co-edited three volumes and received the K. Subramanyam Award in 2010 for Excellence in Research in Strategic and Security Studies.

Rory M. Medcalf is Director of the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute and a Nonresident Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution. He has worked as a Senior Strategic Analyst with the Office of National Assessments, Canberra's peak intelligence agency. He has contributed to three landmark reports on nuclear arms control including the 1996 Canberra Commission..

Admiral (Retd) Sureesh Mehta is Chairman of the National Maritime Foundation, a naval think-tank that continues to build international bridges with similar institutions. Subsequent to his retirement, he was appointed as the Indian High Commissioner to New Zealand, with concurrent responsibilities to Samoa and Kiribati. In November 2006, he took over the reins of the Indian Navy as the 20^th Chief of the Naval Staff, to become the first post-independence born Chief of the Indian Armed Forces.

Zhao Qinghai is Director of the Editorial Department of the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS) Journals. He is also in charge of the Center of Maritime Security, CIIS since 2012.

Lora Saalman is an Associate Professor at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu. She also serves as a nonresident associate in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Vijay Sakhuja is Director of Research at the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), New Delhi. He is also a Visiting Senior Research Fellow for the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore since 2006. A former Indian Navy officer, Dr. Sakhuja has been on the research faculty of a number of think tanks in India.

Jeff M. Smith is the Director of South Asia Programs at the American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC), a Washington DC-based think tank. He is the Managing Editor of the World Almanac of Islamism and the Editor of AFPC’s South Asia Security Monitor and has provided briefings and consulted for the Pentagon, State Department and intelligence community. He is the author of Cold Peace: China-India Rivalry in the 21st Century (Lexington Books, 2014).

Admiral (Retd) Nirmal Verma was appointed as the High Commissioner to Canada in November 2012. He is a former Indian Navy Admiral who served as the Chief of the Naval Staff of Indian Navy, from August 31, 2009 to August 31, 2012.

Andrew C. Winner is Professor and chair of Strategic Studies in the Strategic Research Department at the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. He is director of the Indian Ocean Studies Group at the Naval War College. In June 2007, he was awarded the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award for his work on the Navy’s new maritime strategy.

Yang Yi is Secretary General at the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS) in Beijing, China. He served in Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles from 2000 to 2004.

Yi Xianliang is currently Deputy Director General of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, PRC, Beijing. Previously, he was Chief of the Office of Climate Change and Counselor for the Treaty and Law Department; and Counselor for the Political and Legal Affairs with the Embassy of China, The Hague, The Netherlands.

Table of Contents

Foreword
LTG (Retd) DAN LEAF, APCSS

Chapter 1: The Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain: Challenges and Opportunities
MOHAN MALIK, APCSS

PART I: MAPPING THE INDO-PACIFIC REGION
Chapter 2: Mapping the Indo-Pacific? China, India and the United States
RORY MEDCALF, LOWY INSTITUTE

Chapter 3: The “Indo-Pacific” Concept: Implications for China
YANG YI and ZHAO QINGHAI, CIIS

PART II: U.S., CHINESE & INDIAN PERSPECTIVES ON MARITIME SECURITY
Chapter 4: Extremely Desirable but Exceptionally Difficult: An American Perspective
SCOTT HAROLD, RAND

Chapter 5: Interests and Role in the Indo-Pacific: A Chinese Perspective
ZHAO GANCHENG, SIIS

Chapter 6: Interests & Role in the Indo-Pacific: An Indian Perspective
SUREESH MEHTA, NMF

PART III: TRADITIONAL & NON-TRADITIONAL SECURITY CHALLENGES
Chapter 7: Traditional Maritime Security Challenges in China-India and China-U.S. Relations
JEFF M. SMITH, AFPC

Chapter 8: Fractured Mirrors: Chinese Views on Indian Deterrence at Sea
LORA SAALMAN, APCSS

Chapter 9: Transnational Maritime Threats and Challenges
PROBAL K. GHOSH, ORF

Chapter 10: The United States and Maritime Security Challenges
ANDREW C. WINNER, NWC

Chapter 11: China and Transnational Maritime Security Challenges
SRIKANTH KONDAPALLI, JNU

PART IV: MULTILATERAL MECHANISMS & COOPERATIVE MEASURES
Chapter 12: Promoting Maritime Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific
NIRMAL VERMA, MEA

Chapter 13: Maritime Power, Not Maritime Hegemony
YI XIANGLIANG, MoFA

Chapter 14: Multilateral Mechanisms in the Indo-Pacific
VIJAY SAKHUJA, ICWA

Chapter 15: The Effectiveness of Cooperative Mechanisms
C. UDAY BHASKAR, NMF

Chapter 16: The U.S. Pivot to the Indo-Pacific: Imperatives, Challenges & Cooperation
LOU CHUNHAO, CICIR and ZHANG HAIWEN, CIMA

Chapter 17: America’s Patchwork of Coalitions
JAMES HOLMES, NWC

Reviews

This volume offers an invaluable set of chapters that update and inform us the challenges facing the Indo-Pacific regions and the potential for co-operation by a group of eminent scholars and practitioners. It adds substantially to our understanding of the larger regional and global implications of the emerging power dynamics in the region.
— T.V. Paul, James McGill Professor of International Relations, McGill University, Canada.

Maritime Security in the Indo-Pacific is without doubt an excellent collection of diverse perspectives which deserves attention from the academic and policymaking communities. Moreover, the rich array of information and sources contained within this volume will allow those interested to research more deeply into the heart of this increasingly crucial subject matter.
— Contemporary Southeast Asia