How the Indian Navy Is Expanding Its Presence in the Indo-Pacific Through ‘Goodwill Visits’ 

In Could 2024, the Indian Navy’s Japanese Fleet accomplished a sequence of “goodwill visits” to Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines and Brunei. As a part of the Operational Deployment to the South China Sea, the Indian Navy visited these Southeast Asian nations and demonstrated its intent and efforts to deepen its rising community of maritime partnerships. Related visits have been made for a number of years now.

In line with the Indian Navy, “Naval diplomacy entails using naval forces in assist of overseas coverage goals to construct ‘bridges of friendship’ and strengthen worldwide cooperation, on one hand, and to sign functionality and intent to discourage potential adversaries, on the opposite.” Aside from its army, constabulary, and benign roles, New Delhi makes use of its navy as a significant diplomatic instrument in advancing its nationwide pursuits and selling its overseas coverage goals, each inside and out of doors maritime areas. Additional, “strengthening political relations and goodwill” stays a key goal with respect to this diplomatic function. On this regard, abroad deployments and port visits are main duties undertaken by the Indian Navy. 

Commander P.Ok. Ghosh asserts that goodwill visits by the Indian Navy to ports in pleasant maritime nations are a key facet of India’s overseas coverage. Whereas these visits are largely ceremonial and a part of peacetime operations, they play a big function in strengthening maritime cooperation and conveying strategic indicators to each allies and potential adversaries. Scholar Barry Blechman stated, “The mere presence of a naval power in a area serves a political perform, no matter its composition, its mission, or its exercise and even within the absence of any diplomatic exercise directed in the direction of related ends. As such, a state that establishes a peacetime naval presence in a selected area is apt to achieve affect within the affairs of that area.”

Although New Delhi has been sending its naval warships on goodwill visits to nations everywhere in the world since independence, its focus has primarily shifted to ports within the Indo-Pacific area in recent times. 

Lately, Indian naval ships from the Japanese Fleet have been actively engaged in goodwill visits to pleasant nations throughout the Indo-Pacific. For instance, in 2023 alone, the Indian Navy made port calls to Cambodia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea. Nevertheless, these visits aren’t merely routine gestures to strengthen diplomatic ties; as talked about earlier, they usually serve to convey delicate strategic messages, significantly to China. The timing of those deployments is critical. The Indian Navy’s prolonged operational presence within the South China Sea, throughout heightened tensions between China and the Philippines, and its port calls in nations embroiled in maritime disputes with China, are removed from coincidental.

Since relations between India and China worsened following the 2020 border clashes, India has more and more positioned itself as a counterbalance to China’s assertiveness within the Indo-Pacific. New Delhi has not hesitated to deploy naval belongings to the South China Sea, demonstrating a coverage shift. In 2021, the Indian Navy carried out workout routines with Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam within the area. By 2023, it participated in a joint train with seven ASEAN navies within the South China Sea, adopted by a joint assertion with the Philippines calling on China to respect worldwide regulation concerning its territorial claims. The newest deployment displays the continuity of this strategic shift.

Equally, the South Pacific has turn into one other space of strategic competitors between New Delhi and Beijing. China has considerably expanded its affect over Pacific Island nations, rising as a key safety and financial participant within the area. Though India has primarily acted as a growth accomplice to those nations, it’s now aiming to strengthen its engagement. This was evident when, following the third Discussion board for India-Pacific Island Cooperation (FIPIC) Summit, two Indian Navy ships made a goodwill go to to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, signaling India’s intent to deepen ties within the area.

In conclusion, the Indian Navy’s goodwill visits to Southeast Asia and the broader Indo-Pacific area play an important function in advancing New Delhi’s overseas coverage goals by naval diplomacy. These visits not solely strengthen India’s maritime partnerships but additionally function a strategic instrument to challenge affect, signaling each cooperation with allies and a delicate deterrent to rivals, significantly China. By making these port calls and taking part in joint workout routines, India is positioning itself as a key participant within the Indo-Pacific, reinforcing its dedication to regional stability, and a peaceable, rules-based order within the Indo-Pacific.