Policy priorities clearly outlined

The division, headed by Vikram Doraiswamy, who earlier used to head the Americas desk and also looks after Bangladesh and Myanmar, where the Chinese presence is pervasive, will, like other territorial divisions, provide policy guidelines for this new and increasingly critical area for Indian foreign policy, combining Modi’s dictum of ‘security and growth for all in the region’ – SAGAR – with a clear message for China

It is back to business in high gear at South Block, with the government making clear policy priority statements within the first fortnight of assuming office. The new incumbent at the corner office in the Ministry of External Affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, is an old MEA hand who was hand-picked to provide continuity to and take forward Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s core priority areas, like better counter-terrorism cooperation, enhanced defence and security cooperation, improved development cooperation and closer people to people cooperation, while ensuring that India increasingly finds itself among the global lawmakers.

Jaishankar’s choice of Bhutan as his first foreign destination was intended to reassure Thimphu that it would continue to be a top Indian priority. In fact Modi had chosen Thimphu as his first foreign visit when he first assumed office in 2014.

After the neighbouring states of the Maldives and Sri Lanka, once considered as part of a close maritime security triangle until Abdulla Yameen in Male veered in a sharply pro-Beijing direction, both Modi and his foreign minister headed to Central Asia. The prime minister travelled to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, where counter terrorism and defence cooperation are core commitments. Modi, who specifically chose to not fly over Pakistan, made a renewed call for a global counterterrorism summit at which all aspects of countering terrorist activity, including providing shelter to training and financing, would be comprehensively discussed. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was also present at the SCO summit.

Jaishankar was in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, for the CICA (Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building measures in Asia) summit, also an important regional antiterrorism grouping, on June 14-15, reiterating India’s commitment to the need to stamp out terrorism and censure countries which continue to use it as instruments of foreign policy.

When US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives in New Delhi on June 25, he is scheduled to meet National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and also meet PM Modi, but topmost on his agenda, particularly during discussions with his counterpart External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, is to get a sense of policy priorities in the second Modi administration. For the US, a sense of how to carry the partnership on the IndoPacific region forward is a key element.

Earlier this year India set up an IndoPacific division in the external affairs ministry, making a strong strategic statement. The new division, which will incorporate the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), the ASEAN division and the Quad, (quadrilateral of Japan, India, Australia and the US) among others, is intended to provide a coherent framework for its policy on the region, outlined in PM Modi's statement at the Shangri-La Dialogue in June last year.

The division will also be more in sync with its increasing collaboration in the region with the US (and Japan, Singapore and Vietnam), which renamed its Pacific Command as the Indo-Pacific command, for a “rules based” order, clearly sending a message to China, which has been flexing its muscle in the region, particularly around the South China Sea.

The division, headed by Vikram Doraiswamy, who earlier used to head the Americas desk and also looks after Bangladesh and Myanmar, where the Chinese presence is pervasive, will, like other territorial divisions, provide policy guidelines for this new and increasingly critical area for Indian foreign policy, combining Modi’s dictum of ‘security and growth for all in the region’ – SAGAR – with a clear message for China that India will do what it requires to ensure that the Indian Ocean, the “only Ocean named after a country,” will remain a core interest for that country to safeguard.

Gradually, the defence ministry and, particularly, the Navy, will be co-opted to flesh out the policy contours of India’s maritime security strategy.

Pompeo’s 24-hour long visit will be handled on the US side by Edgard Kagan, the Consul General in Mumbai who is replacing Mary Kay Carlson as Deputy Chief of Mission at the embassy. Carlson, who made India her own with her fashion statements of frequently wearing saris from on official engagements, will be relocating to Buenos Aires where, as the DCM, she plans on wearing those saris.