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India as an Indian Ocean Power

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India’s Rise to Power

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Abstract

India’s naval build-up provoked considerable speculation both within the nation and in the wider region. Some non-Indian commentators believed that India was seeking a power projection capability rather than establishing a defensive posture. This interpretation also gained currency in the context of the diminution of the superpower presence in the Indian Ocean region, a phenomenon that left the role of large regional navies such as India’s more exposed to view. It is claimed that continued superpower withdrawal would, ‘in extremis, [lead to] a Southeast Asia dominated militarily by China to the East and India to the west’.1

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Endnotes

  1. Ross Munro, ‘Indian naval build-up: Mixed signals’, The Straits Times, 31 January 1991.

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  2. The following is taken from a variety of sources, including: ‘More for the Navy: Interview with L. Ramdas’, Frontline, 20 December 1991, pp. 7–8; Transcript of a speech by Admiral Nayyar (Ret’d) to the US Global Strategy Council, Washington DC, 27 September 1989; Admiral S.N. Kohli, ‘The geopolitical and strategic considerations that necessitate the expansion and modernisation of the Indian navy’, Indian Defence Review, January 1989, pp. 33–45; Admiral R.H. Tahiliani (Ret’d), ‘Maritime strategy for the nineties’, Indian Defence Review, July 1989, pp. 19–30; Rear Admiral R. Tandon, ‘The Maritime Priorities of India’, Conference on Maritime Change, Issues for Asia, Sydney, Australia, 21–22 November 1991.

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  3. Ministry of Defence statement to the Parliamentary Estunates Committee (1992–93), Nineteenth Report, Presented 20 August 1992, Lok Sabha Secretariat, New Delhi, p. 29.

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  4. Henry Kassmger, White House Tears, Little, Brown and l:o., t3oston,1979.

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  5. Jasjit Singh, ‘Indian Ocean and Indian Security’, in S. Kumar (Ed.), Yearbook on India’s Foreign Policy 1987/88, Tata-McGraw Hill, New Delhi, 1988, p. 133.

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  6. Admiral S.N. Kohli (Ret’d), The geopolitical and strategic considerations that necessitate the expansion and modernization of the Indian Navy’, Indian Defence Review, January 1989, p. 33.

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  7. K. Sundarji, ‘Stretching the Defence Bucks’, India Today, 31 December 1991, p. 158.

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  8. Quoted in Nicholas Nugent, ‘ T he Defence P reparedness of I ndia: Arming for T omorrow’, MilitaryTechnology ( MILTE C H ), N o. 3, 1991, p. 30.

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  9. Interview with the author, New Delhi, December 1990. See also, Vice Admiral M.K. Roy, ‘The Indian Navy from the Bridge’, Proceedings, March 1990, p. 74.

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  10. Interview, senior British naval official involved with exercises with India in 1992. See also Rear Admiral K.R. Menon, ‘Maritime Developments and Opportunities: South Asia’, paper delivered at the conference, Australia’s Maritime Bridge into Asia, 17–19 November 1993, p. 1.

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  11. Admiral Menon, ‘Maritime Developments and Opportunities’, p. 4.

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  17. See for example, Michael Richardson, ‘East Asia and Western Pacific Brace for an Ascendant India’, International Herald Tribune, 4 October 1989, p. 1 and p. 7.

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  18. - India was eventually able to move over 50,000 troops to Sri Lanka.However, the insertion of troops and equipment was conducted by stages.

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  19. John Jordan, ‘India: The Indian Navy—Major Expansion Ahead’, Jane’s Intelligence Review, Vol. 3, No. 7, July 1991, p. 293.

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  20. Ramesh Thakur, ‘India as a Regional Superpower’, Asian Defence Journal, No. 5, 1990, p. 5.

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  21. Admiral R. Tandon, ‘The Maritime Priorities of India’, paper delivered at a conference on ‘Maritime Change: Issues for Asia’, Sydney, Australia, 21–22 November 1991, p. 25.

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  22. Ravi Rikhye, ‘Nobody asked me, but...’, Proceedings, March 1990, p. 77.

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  24. IISS, The Military Balance 1992–93, London 1992.

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  27. For arguments against carriers see Vice Admiral S.N. Mookerjee (Ret’d), ‘Indian Naval Development—Need for Review’, Journal of the U.S.I. of India, Vol. CXIX, April-June 1989, No. 496, pp. 151–7; and Pravin Sawhney, ‘The Blue Water Argument’, Business and Political Observer, 2 August 1991. For arguments in favour see Admiral S.N. Kohli, ‘The geopolitical and strategic considerations that necessitate the expansion and modernization of the Indian Navy’, Indian Defence Review, January 1989, pp. 41–42; Admiral R.H. Tahiliani, (Ret’d), Maritime strategy for the nineties’, Indian Defence Review, July 1989, p. 28. For a short summary of the debate see John Jordan, ‘India: The Indian Navy—Major Expansion Ahead’, Jane’s Intelligence Review, July 1991, Vol. 3, No. 7, pp. 296–7.

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  28. Government of India, Expenditure Budget 1992–93, (no pub. details given), Demand No 22, p. 47.

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  29. Defence services Estimates, 1993–94, Demand No. 22, p. 86.

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  30. Thomas, India’s 5ecurity Policy, p. 156.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

    Sandy Gordon

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  1. Sandy Gordon
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© 1995 Sandy Gordon

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Gordon, S. (1995). India as an Indian Ocean Power. In: India’s Rise to Power. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230371804_15

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