US Navy foray: Will Delhi stand up to Washington?

When the US Seventh Fleet entered the Bay of Bengal in December 1971 to boost Pakistan’s morale and threaten India’s security as the birth of Bangladesh was being midwifed, New Delhi used the counterweight offered by the Indo-Soviet Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed in August that year to call out Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger. The Americans withdrew, cursing. Not so now.

This time the around Americans are hectoring and Indians are praying they will emerge from this with their prestige unscathed. It does really boil down to the vision of the leadership which sees the United States as the reliable heavyweight partner. The US is of course quite clear about one thing: with no country does it have a relationship that is “taller than the mountains and deeper than the seas” – China’s description of its ties with Pakistan.

As part of its “freedom of navigation operations” (FONOP), a warship of the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet, USS John Paul Jones, passed through India’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) some 240 nautical km off Lakshwadweep. An official Seventh Fleet communication said two things: that its action was to repudiate India’s “excessive maritime claims”; and two, its action was consistent with international law and therefore the US wilfully disregarded the Indian condition of prior permission.

About the first, it’s evident the US doesn’t doubt the legitimacy of the extent of India’s EEZ in that area. What it’s saying is that it has no regard for India’s domestic law which does not permit the passage of a warship of any country without permission. As for international law, the US has not endorsed the UN Conference on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS). Furthermore, the US privileges its domestic laws over any international law but may not give the same consideration to other countries.

When New Delhi pointed out through diplomatic channels that the terse, even brazen, communication of the Seventh Fleet was unwarranted in respect of a friendly country that had participated in a summit of the Quad, hosted by the US President, only three weeks earlier, Washington sought to convey that its FONOP aren’t country-specific. The government here seems to have fed the media the speculation that President Joe Biden is trying to signal China that its naval movements in the South China Sea should not be misunderstood by Beijing since India is getting the same treatment.

This is the overlord’s show of neutrality which India is entitled to call out. But will it, or will it make excuses for the US? Surrounded by a peppery China and a hostile Pakistan, with Russia now adopting a somewhat cool stance in view of evolving zonal and international alignments, New Delhi gives the impression of standing before Washington, cap in hand.

The latter is seeking to exploit the situation to the hilt. The US and India both know the Americans had carried out FONOP in the same area in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019. India was happy to lump it so long as no one made a song and dance about it, but this time the Americans are announcing the story aloud for all to hear. This is Mr Biden’s America seeking to re-assert the doctrine of US superiority. If India doesn’t make its disapprobation plain, who knows, we may have the Chinese or the Pakistani Navy follow in America’s footsteps in India’s EEZs.

What the US is saying is that it has no regard for India’s domestic law which does not permit the passage of a warship of any country without permission.