‘Think West’ Diplomacy

For decades, India was non-active player in West Asian region-a beneficiary of good relationships with multiple actors. Historically, India’s West Asia policy has been multi-directional. But in the recent times India has escalated the engagement with Israel, Palestine, Oman, UAE, Iran, etc., which finally may be culminated on the energy security and other dimensions.

Recent Developments

PM’s Visit to Palestine, Oman and the UAE

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertook his second visit of 2018 in early February by traveling to Oman, the UAE, and Palestine. The four day-visit, which was from February 9 to 12, was PM’s fifth visit to the Gulf and Western Asia since 2015. During this visit, several agreements were signed that would go a long way in strengthening relations between India and these nations.
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2015 visit to the U.A.E. and subsequent events have seen India’s view of the region undergo a fundamental shift. The foundation for Prime Minister's successful outreach to West Asia was in fact laid by his predecessor when India invited the King of Saudi Arabia to be the chief guest at the Republic Day Parade, in 2006.

US Withdraws from Iran Nuclear Deal

  • U.S. President Donald Trump has announced America’s immediate withdrawal from a landmark nuclear deal with Iran, following through on a threat the US president made as part of his 2016 election campaign.
  • Iran Nuclear Deal: In 2015, six countries led by the U.S. signed up to a landmark deal with Iran. Known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran agreed to limit its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of certain western sanctions.
    • The US, UK, France, Germany, Russia, China and Iran signed the deal, alongside the EU. The UN Security Council endorsed the deal.
    • The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, inspects sites in Iran and has repeatedly assessed that Iran is complying with the terms of the agreement.
  • The Implications: U.S.’ decision to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), popularly called the Iran nuclear deal, is bound to have serious implications for the international system, and for India. India has a lot to lose both economically and geopolitically, and it will take deft diplomacy to adapt to the changing alignments. A more unstable West Asia would ipso facto mean more difficult choices for India. India’s efforts to maintain a fine balance between India’s relations with Iran on the one hand and with the U.S., Israel and Saudi Arabia on the other will be seriously tested in the days ahead.

Look West to Think West

On the lines of Look East policy, India adopted Look West Policy in 2005. However, the policy did not get much attention since then but late due frequent visits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to number of West Asia countries enhanced our engagement with West Asia. The former Foreign Secretary S. Jayashankar coined the word as ‘Think West’ Diplomacy.

Basis of the Policy

  • India aims to play a balancing role in West Asian Countries as it provides unique opportunities with several internal contradictions. The look west policy is based on 3 countries- Saudi Arabia, Iran and Israel.
  • India is trying to have balance between Israel and Palestine. Together with embracing Israel for deeper cooperation in the fields of science and technology, defence, agriculture, India is upholding its historic commitment to the cause of Palestine.
  • India’s deepening engagement with Iran through Chabahar port is testifying a niche of India in west Asia. The present Indian government getting involved heavily in west Asian region.
  • The presence of India in West Asia is also a method to countering increased presence of China in Indian Ocean region by enhancing cooperation with the littoral states of Indian Ocean region.

Initiatives by India to Strengthen ‘Think West’ Policy

Palestine

  • Infrastructure: A traditional supporter of Palestinian independence, India has been extending financial support for its reconstruction, development, and institution building.
  • Alliance: Palestine, which has turned away from a United States-led mediation, now counts on India to support a multi-country mechanism to realise the two-state solution. India stressed the importance of dialogue as opposed to violence, assuring Palestine that “India is bound by a promise to take care of Palestinian peoples’ interests”. Six new agreements worth nearly $50 million in areas such as health, agriculture, information technology and education were signed during the visit.
  • Support to Palestine Issue: India’s proximity to the Palestinian cause was not only historical but also strategic, as India is home to the second-largest Muslim population in the world (after Indonesia) and, of course, because India depended and still depends on Arab countries for nearly 60 per cent of its energy supplies. Palestine is also grateful to India for joining the majority in the UN vote against the Trump administration’s move on Jerusalem.

The United Arab Emirates

  • Strategic Partnership: In Feb 2018, Prime Minister of India paid second visit to UAE, highlighting the seriousness with which he is pursuing the Look West policy in the near neighbourhood. Home to nine million Indians, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has emerged as a strategically and commercially important region for India.
  • Trade: Prime Minister's vision of SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) and developing the blue economy with littorals in the Indian Ocean requires strong partnerships. Equally, a developing India has emerged as an important market for the Gulf oil economies, their aviation companies, a provider of appropriate and cheaper technology and human resources, resulting in enhanced accommodation on issues such as labour rights, technology transfer, and cooperation in counter terrorism.
  • Multipronged Approach: The joint statement reiterated the intention to hold the first-ever joint naval exercises in the Persian Gulf, deplored terror and stressed the responsibility of all states to control “non-State actors” operating from their soil, a pointed reference to Pakistan. PM addressed the Indian community at the Dubai Opera House and witnessed the ground-breaking ceremony of the first Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi.

Oman

  • Sweeping Alliances: Indian naval ships regularly visit Salalah and Duqm for operational turnaround while engaging in anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden. Cooperation in trade and investment, energy, defence and security, food security and regional issues were discussed resulting in eight agreements in the military, legal and judicial cooperation, health, tourism and outer space sectors. While Adani Ports and Duqm Special Economic Zone Authority already signed an agreement in 2017, India would also like to use Duqm for logistics purposes.
  • Strategic Significance: India and Oman finalized an agreement that will see India gain access to the strategically located port of Duqm, on Oman’s southern coast. The port sits on the north-western edge of the Indian Ocean and also provides easy access onward into the Red Sea through the Gulf of Aden. The Indian Navy will be able to use the port for logistics and support, allowing it to sustain long-term operations in the western Indian Ocean, a hotspot for piracy in the area.

Israel

  • Demarcation between Israel and Palestine: Having taken a stand on Jerusalem, India has rightly now decided to de-hyphenate the relations with Israel and Palestine. Palestine recently demonstrated its resolve to continue its bond with India by recalling its ambassador to Pakistan, Waid Abu Ali for sharing the dais with Hafiz Sayeed in Pakistan.
  • Close Relations between PMs: Relations between India and Israel have never been better and the chemistry between India and Israeli Prime Minister is stronger than ever.
  • Visit to Israel: In July 2017, Narendra Modi became the first Indian PM to visit Israel and in Jan’18 he received Netanyahu in his home town of Ahmedabad as part of the latter’s six-day visit to India. The two visits show how far the bilateral relationship between India and Israel has come and how far behind India’s relationship with Palestine has been left.

Analysis

As India seeks to pursue multi-dimensional engagement with the Middle East, Prime Minister’s latest visit to the region has merely underscored the growing salience of the region in the Indian foreign policy matrix.

  • Gaining Significance in the Region: India’s ‘Look West’ policy has evolved rapidly. The Prime Minister's fifth visit to West Asia in the last three and a half years and sustained high-level engagement has ensured that India’s voice is becoming an important one in a region that is witnessing major power rivalries playing out in the open like never before.
  • Enhanced Trade Engagements: India’s robust engagements with the Arab Gulf states are part of this dynamic too. Trade and economic ties are becoming central to the India-UAE relationship. A growing convergence is emerging between India and the UAE in tackling terrorism, which India has been successful in tapping into with an eye on Pakistan.
  • Countering China: Oman has been a longstanding partner of India in the Middle East too, where Indians constitute the largest expatriate community. With the Indian Ocean becoming a priority focus area of India, Oman’s significance is only likely to grow.
  • Infrastructure: India is already involved with several projects in the region, such as the Farkhor Air Base in Tajikistan and the Chabahar port facility in Iran, both of which are not fully functional yet. There are no similar projects underway in Southeast Asia. India should focus on to improve its strategic and economic relations with countries that generally trust and seek better relations with India, like Afghanistan.
  • Trust Factor: India is in the good position of being trusted by all the major factions in the Middle East; it has good relations with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Iraq, and the Gulf States. There are particularly large Indian communities in the Gulf States and the development of Dubai as a major financial and cultural center for South Asians is another factor that India should consider leveraging as it reaches out to the region.

Challenges

  • ASEAN has been the vehicle for India’s expanding partnership with South East Asia, but there is no similar forum in the Middle East.
  • Ideological, political and religious divisions in India over the Middle East have long complicated Delhi’s thinking of the region.
  • Instability in the region due to ISIS.
  • Growing rivalry between the Sunni Arabs and Shia Iran.

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