Maritime Affairs: Journal of the National Maritime

Foundation of India

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Editorial for the Winter Edition 2020 of “Maritime

Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan AVSM & Bar, VSM, IN (Retd)

To cite this article: Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan AVSM & Bar, VSM, IN (Retd) (2020) Editorial
for the Winter Edition 2020 of “Maritime Affairs”, Maritime Affairs: Journal of the National Maritime
Foundation of India, 16:2, iii-vii, DOI: 10.1080/09733159.2020.1864861

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/09733159.2020.1864861

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Editorial for the Winter Edition 2020 of “Maritime Affairs”

Stitching the Indian Ocean maritime space has long been a well-recognised challenge to
security analysts, policy-shaper and policy-makers alike. Yet, for all its complexity, it is a chal-
lenge to which India must rise if it is to be true in form and function to its Prime Ministerial
averment of being a “a net provider of security in our immediate region and beyond … ”.1 This
requires India to not only demonstrate an uncommon degree of skill and nimble-footed dex-
terity with which to make its own geopolitical moves within the maritime domain but also to
carry along with it other critically-important maritime-players such as Bangladesh, Indonesia,
Sri Lanka and Thailand, presenting the sub-region as whole with regionally-sensitive win-win
options. Thus, with the current Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi providing a
further fillip to his vision of SAGAR (Security and Growth for all in the Region) with his
more recently enunciated Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI),2 the Indian hat is quite
clearly in the ring, not just within the Indian Ocean but also in the wider Indo-Pacific.
Even in these times of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the geoeconomic tensions
that preceded it, as also the geopolitical stresses that the pandemic has brought in its wake,
it is important, within all our security-relevant discussions, to accord primacy to the adjective
‘holistic’ that must always prefix the words ‘maritime-security’, lest we find ourselves going
down an older, narrower, darker and definitely more-restrictive path of military maritime-
security alone.
It is true that the maritime common is only one — perhaps a particularly important one,
but nevertheless only one — of the several global commons, which may be collectively
described as those parts of the planet that fall outside national jurisdictions and to which
all nations have access. These resource-domains are guided by the principle of the
common heritage of mankind. They include the high seas and marine biodiversity, the atmos-
phere, the polar regions in general and Antarctica in particular, ‘outer-space’, and, increas-
ingly, ‘inner-space’ (perhaps more commonly known as ‘cyberspace’) as well. All these
commons have ‘predictability’ and ‘order’ as prerequisites for the safe and secure involvement
of human beings and the nation-states into which humans organise themselves. When this
‘order’ — and the behavioural-predictability that it generates — is arrived-at through inter-
national consensus, rather than through arbitrary imposition from one or another state
entity, it tends to be more acceptable and the probability of general adherence increases mani-
fold. This is how maritime security-cooperation ought to be viewed, and it is all the more
important given the sheer physical dominance of the maritime environment over our
planet. This dominance is such that happenings in the maritime domain, whether natural
or manmade and whether occurring for good or ill, impact upon man’s natural land-
habitat, sooner rather than later. As such, the maritime domain is demanding and deserving
of continuous study, discussion and debate.
Within the maritime domain, the seas, unlike the land, are continuous. As such, maritime
issues do not lend themselves particularly well to narrow ‘area-studies’. They are, instead, far
more effectively referenced to ‘thematic’ studies. For instance, issues of maritime law and its
more invidious variant, ‘lawfare’, humanitarian assistance and disaster-relief, piracy and
© 2020 National Maritime Foundation
iv EDITORIAL

maritime crime, IUU fishing, etc., and solutions applicable thereto, are not specific to a given
geographical area but are ubiquitous across the maritime domain. Even where they manifest
themselves in localised forms, the lessons and best practices are applicable on a nearly global
level — and certainly on a regional one.
It is here that institutions such as the National Maritime Foundation (NMF) come into
their own, because we cannot even begin to achieve our common goal of a safe and secure
maritime common without a great deal of detailed study, whose explorations and findings
(both), are instantly retrievable. The management of information is no less critical than the
generation of the information itself, and this is the lasting contribution of our flagship
journal, “Maritime Affairs”.
This ‘Winter 2020’ issue of “Maritime Affairs” offers a reasonable glimpse of the contours
of our grand vision of a coalesced, prosperous and progressive maritime domain. This is a
vision that is neither diminished nor daunted by the diversity of the Indo-Pacific. We
must, in fact, revel in this diversity, recognising that it is precisely this pan-regional diversity
that makes for the presentation of multiple solutions to any given problem. It even provides
for the problem itself to be presented in more than a single manner, thereby actually increas-
ing the applicability of a variety of possible solutions. This is what this issue sets out to do.
It bears little elaboration that awareness is a necessary precondition for effective action.
This is as true of the maritime domain as it is of any other. It is glaringly obvious that an accu-
rate, timely and comprehensive knowledge of maritime happenings at sea is vital for holistic
maritime security and the regional effort that is underway within the Indo-Pacific by nations
seeking to transition from a ‘brown’ economy to a ‘blue’ one. And yet, necessary as it might
be, mere knowledge is not a ‘sufficient’ condition. There is a concomitant need to understand
what is going on. Thus, maritime domain awareness (MDA) must yield to maritime situa-
tional awareness (MSA), at all levels ranging from the sub-tactical to the geopolitical.
The first article in this issue, which is by Commander Prakash Gopal is entitled “Maritime
Domain Awareness and India’s Maritime Security Strategy: Role, Effectiveness and the Way
Ahead”. Gopal presents some of the more pressing challenges in respect of MDA that are
faced by India. India’s doctrinal articulations quite correctly identify MDA as a key oper-
ational enabler, a realisation that was cruelly underscored by the terror attack on Mumbai
in late November of the year 2008 (more popularly known simply as ‘26/11’). Yet, ensuring
maritime security will always remain work in progress and Gopal has localised some notable
gaps in national MDA capabilities that could adversely impact the higher end of maritime
operations.
A major trigger for the increased focus upon MDA and MSA is, of course, the need to
combat the Hydra-headed threat of maritime crime. Amongst the many forms that maritime
crime takes, piracy is a surprisingly resurgent and a disconcertingly persistent one. Piracy
shifts, amoeba-like, from one area to another depending upon where deterrent, preventive,
curative, or punitive naval-pressure is applied and for how long. The issue of piracy in the
Gulf of Guinea has received focussed attention in a well-analysed piece, co-authored by
Ms Christina Barla, and Captain (Dr) Nitin Agarwala, the latter being a serving officer in
the Indian Navy. In their article, entitled “Comparing Maritime Piracy Along the Coasts of
Africa: In Search of a Solution for the Gulf of Guinea”, the duo has compared incidents of
piracy along the eastern and the western coasts of Africa, and examined whether the counter-
measures adopted on the eastern coasts can be replicated on the western one.
And yet, maritime crime is hardly the sole threat being encountered in the maritime
domain, or even the most critical one, for that matter. Arguably, the most insidious of the
threats facing the maritime common is climate change. While there is no dearth of
expressions of lament in this regard, the number of economically viable adaptative options
 MARITIME AFFAIRS: JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL MARITIME FOUNDATION OF INDIA v

emerging from the littorals of South Asia and South-East Asia is relatively sparse. It is, there-
fore, extremely interesting to read to find, within this solution-intensive genre, the article by
Dr Sameer Guduru, Dr Pushp Bajaj, and Dr Oliver Nelson Gonsalves, entitled “India’s Low
Temperature Thermal Desalination Technology: Water Diplomacy with Small Island Develop-
ing States in the Indo-Pacific Region”. In it, these three scholars explore the tantalising oppor-
tunity for India to offer its pioneering ‘Low Temperature Thermal Desalination’ (LTTD)
technology to tackle water-scarcity in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The article high-
lights the advantages of LTTD over conventional options such as membrane-based and other
distillation-based techniques and propounds its potential as a particularly-effective tool of
India’s foreign policy, given the overarching effort to develop a viable regional ‘blue’
economy.
Indeed, the transition to a ‘Blue Economy’ is a process that is steadily gaining traction not
just in spatial terms, encompassing a number of disparate maritime spaces, but also in tem-
poral terms wherein it has captured the imagination of different generations, ranging from
the old to the very young. Typifying the manner in which the global youth across the
world are drawn to the process is the article authored by Shailly Kedia and Priyanka
Gautam, entitled “Blue Economy Meets International Political Economy: The Emerging
Picture”. The authors describe the Blue Economy as a set of economic practices that seek
to achieve conservation, inclusive development, and the sustainable use of oceans and seas
as commons through poly-centric, multi-level and multi-actor interventions. The Blue
economy initiatives analysed by them include the ‘Sustainable Ocean Business Action Plat-
form’, the ‘World Bank PROBLUE’, and, ‘Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Initiative’.
As may be expected, geopolitical issues continue to dog India’s proximate maritime
domain as well as its more-distant one. The India-Sri Lanka agreement of 1974 delimited
the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) according to which the island of Kachcha-
tivu, an islet in Palk Bay, became a part of the maritime territory of Sri Lanka. As a conse-
quence, this has limited the extent of the fishing grounds available to Indian fishermen.
The latter have been demanding the return of Kachchativu to India and the restoration of
traditional fishing rights, as the only permanent solution. The author, S Vincent, in his
article “Palk Bay Fishing Problem Requires Indo-Sri Lankan Joint-Governance” opines that
these are legally unviable demands. He proposes an alternative remedy, wherein both
countries jointly govern and manage the Palk Bay by signing and executing a new instrument
that he terms the ‘Palk Bay Convention’.
Straddling the geographic interface between the Indian and the Pacific oceans, Indonesia is
amongst the most important States with which India needs to proactively engage, cooperate
and collaborate. It is critical for India to understand how the regional maritime space looks
like when viewed through Indonesian eyes. Authors Dion Maulana Prasetya, Peggy Puspa
Haffsari, and Heavy Nala Estriani, in their article titled “Identity Matters: Indonesia’s
Approach towards Territorial Disputes in Southeast Asia”, have traced Indonesia’s foreign
policy and its efforts since 1945 to resolve maritime disputes in Southeast Asia. The article
has examined Indonesia’s approach towards territorial disputes by analysing whether Indo-
nesia’s approach towards territorial disputes more institutionalist or realist. Highlighting
Indonesia’s preference for a constructivist approach to international relations rather than a
purely realist one, the paper argues that Indonesia identifies itself as a maritime nation,
and a regional leader. The authors also aver that independent Indonesia’s geopolitical behav-
iour (at least since 1945) has been strongly influenced by Jakarta’s self-image and identity as a
maritime nation. This is particularly the case when it comes to Jakarta’s settlement of its mar-
itime differences or disputes. Here, the settlement effort is largely inseparable from Jakarta’s
perception of ASEAN as the cornerstone of Indonesia’s foreign policy. In responding to
vi EDITORIAL

maritime boundary-disputes in the Southeast Asian region, for instance, Indonesia refers to
the ASEAN ‘spirit of dialogue’ which emphasises the principles of diplomacy, negotiations,
and cooperation in conducting peaceful negotiation-settlements. However, under President
Joko Widodo’s administration, there is a more independent, even unilateral, and certainly
a more forceful Indonesian approach in evidence, especially in case that concern the country’s
maritime identity.
Mutually beneficial cooperative maritime engagement, founded upon a rules-based mar-
itime order, is a goal that characterises India’s own conceptualisation of the Indo-Pacific. It is
also one that is shared by Japan. The maximisation of the potential inherent in this shared
maritime outlook constitutes the main thrust of Dr Mohor Chakraborty’s article entitled,
“Navigating the Contours of Maritime Defence Cooperation Between India and Japan:
Impulses, Challenges and Opportunities”. The author highlights the necessity of States such
as India and Japan to sustain the maritime balance of power in the Indo-Pacific by forging
and bolstering bilateral defence cooperation to counter China’s increasing assertiveness.
The article analyses the impulses, dynamics and challenges of maritime cooperation
between India and Japan, particularly in the defence-industrial realm. Centring his arguments
upon the effort of both countries to create a free and open Indo-Pacific, the author emphasises
the multiplier effect that could be created by synchronising New Delhi’s industrial policies
such as ‘Make in India’ with Japan’s own quest for defence modernisation and development.
All in all, he makes a strong case for leveraging defence-industrial relationships between India
and Japan to create a more stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific.
In all this geopolitical maritime jockeying, the impact of technology upon activities in the
maritime domain is staggering. Amongst the most ubiquitous of the manifestations of tech-
nology is in the transformative change that has been wrought in maritime communications.
From short-range and optically-intensive methods such as signal-flags and shapes, the
domain has leapt into radio communications of increasing complexity. Commodore A P
Golaya and Dr Nithiyanandam Yogeswaran, in their article, “Maritime Communication:
From Flags to the VHF Data Exchange System (VDES)”, have traced the history of maritime
communication since the Battle of Trafalgar and examined how communication is evolving
in the digital age. They have focussed upon Very High Frequency (VHF) communication,
which remains in the vanguard of all maritime communication, including space-based com-
munication and vessel-tracking at sea. In 2015, the International Telecommunication Union
(ITU) published the ‘Technical Characteristics for a VHF Data Exchange System in the VHF
Maritime Mobile Band’. The proposed system, which still remains ‘work-in-progress’, envi-
sages a composite VHF Data Exchange System (VDES) that will integrate the functions of
existing messaging and ship-tracking/anti-collision systems.
Offered as a particularly delectable bonbon after the foregoing intellectual feast, this issue
of “maritime Affairs” has a review, by Akshay Honmane, of one of the latest books (2020) on
the Indo-Pacific, entitled “Conflict and Cooperation in The Indo-Pacific”. Authored by Ash
Rossiter and Brandon J Cannon, and published by the Routledge Taylor and Francis
Group, the book affords the reader a thorough analysis of the present-day power-calculus
within the Indo-Pacific and is highly recommended for professionals as well as general
readers.
Over the years “Maritime Affairs”, the flagship journal of the National Maritime Foun-
dation, New Delhi has garnered a carefully-nurtured reputation as India’ ‘maritime’ voice.
It has been the constant endeavour of the editorial team to improve upon the content and
the quality of the articles. That these efforts are succeeding is evidenced by the growing popu-
larity and readership of the journal. I end with the earnest hope that the current crop of
articles will meet the heightened expectations of our readers.
 MARITIME AFFAIRS: JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL MARITIME FOUNDATION OF INDIA vii

Note
1. Press Information Bureau, Government of India (Prime Minister’s Office); “PM’s speech at
the Foundation Stone Laying Ceremony for the Indian National Defence University at
Gurgaon”, 23-May, 2013. http://pib.nic.in/newsite/mbErel.aspx?relid=96146
2. Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs, “Indo-Pacific Division Briefs”, 07 Feb-
ruary, 2020. https://mea.gov.in/Portal/ForeignRelation/Indo_Feb_07_2020.pdf

Vice Admiral Pradeep ChauhanAVSM & Bar, VSM, IN (Retd)