For India's new policy not becoming another catchphrase, "Act East" must include China. China hasn't made any efforts to resist India's involvement in the Asia-Pacific, be it political, economic or even military cooperation with Southeast Asian countries, such as joint naval exercises with Singapore or joint patrolling with Indonesia. In fact, both China and India are members of security forums of ARF and ADMM+. China and India also had quite a few bilateral joint exercises in counter-terrorism.

China's only concern is India may be seduced to play a "greater role" in the South China Sea dispute. It seems in recent years India is getting more vocal about the issue. In September 2011, India's state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation ONGC drilled in the disputed seabed between China and Vietnam. When Prime Minister Modi visited Washington in September, 2014, the joint statement mentioned freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. In March, 2015, Singaporean Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen asked India to play a bigger role in the South China Sea.

India's concern over the situation in South China Sea is understandable. Anyway, India has extensive historic and cultural links with South East Asia. More than 50% of India's trade passes through the straits of Malacca. But as a country that takes non-alliance as the core of its foreign policy, India should stay away from territorial disputes between China and some ASEAN countries. According to China-ASEAN joint declaration, the dispute will only be resolved through friendly negotiations by the parties directly concerned. India should not say or do anything that looks like encouraging some ASEAN claimants in their disputes with China.

India should also be careful when it comes to freedom of navigation. This is a tricky legal issue. Both China and the U.S. agree to freedom of navigation, but interpret it in different ways. China believes that military activities, such as the close-in reconnaissance/surveillance by the U.S. Navy in China's EEZ cannot be simply categorized as freedom of navigation, and cannot infringe on the coastal states' national security interests, while the U.S. maintains that such military activities fall within the freedoms of navigation. The thing is India, like China and some other twenty countries such as Brazil, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, oppose foreign military activities in their EEZs. Since China and India share similar view on this, it is strange to see India taking side with the U.S.

The Indian Ocean is important for China, as the Pacific Ocean is for India. As a result of globalization, many believe that a broader Indo-Pacific era has arrived. Should this be the case, the Indo-Pacific has much larger room to accommodate Sino-Indian rapprochement rather than rivalry in each other's "back yard."

Zhou Bo is an honorary fellow with Center of China-American Defense Relations, Academy of Military Science, PLA, China.

Courtesy: China&US Focus

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