Non-Alignment 2.0: Running on fumes?

After the Second World War, the winds of decolonisation swept aside the hold of war-weary European powers over their colonies. Spearheaded by Yugoslavia’s Josip Tito, India’s Jawaharlal Nehru, Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser and Indonesia’s Sukarno, the Non-Aligned Movement (N.A.M.) was founded at the 1961 Belgrade Conference, and sought to chart a course independent of the two superpowers at the time – the U.S. and the Soviet Union. By the late 1980s, more than a hundred countries defined themselves as non-aligned. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 robbed the N.A.M. of its raison-d’être.

The opening address at the Non-Alignment 2.0 conference on January 21-22 – organized by Mumbai University’s Department of Civics and Politics – assured the audience that the essence of non-alignment remained relevant to India’s strategic interests. According to Lt. Gen. Prakash Menon, currently Military Advisor to the National Military Council Secretariat of India, non-alignment is rooted in strategic autonomy which allows India to form context-based bilateral partnerships and seize foreign policy initiatives for vital national interests.

This reminds me of India’s effort at strengthening bilateral ties with Vietnam, as demonstrated most recently by the I.N.S. Sudarshini’s four-day ‘friendship visit’ to Da Nang City in December 2012. In April 2007, Vietnam and India conducted joint naval exercises, and in 2011 India responded favourably to Vietnam’s offer to berth Indian naval ships at the Na Thrang port. An Indian naval presence at harbours in the South China Sea, such as the Na Thrang port, can provide security for Indian off-shore drilling companies such as the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation of India (ONGC) which is currently engaged in oil exploration in this geopolitically sensitive region.

Lt. Gen. Menon and Prof. Gautam Sen agreed that India faces two strategic rivals – China and Pakistan. India needs to find a way to secure both its northern boundary and maritime interests, keeping in mind its growing asymmetry with China. Since nuclear weapons have made capturing large swathes of Pakistani territory redundant, the speakers recommend re-orienting Indian forces towards China.

However, that shift has already commenced. Over the past decade, India’s conventional military capabilities have outstripped what is needed to contain Pakistan. More recently, there has been a growing focus on China. In February 2011, the Indian army raised two new mountain infantry divisions (15,000 soldiers each) in India’s North East and in September 2012, it deployed two armored brigades along the Chinese frontier – one in the North East, and another in Ladakh.

The Indian Navy’s latest acquisitions include the nuclear powered attack submarine the I.N.S. Chakra and the (yet-to-be-delivered) aircraft carrier I.N.S. Vikramaditya with a complement of 16 MiG-29K fighters. The Navy also plans to induct an indigenous nuclear submarine (the Advanced Technology Vessel) and another aircraft carrier, which will allow India to target choke points like the Straits of Malacca and Hormuz – vital to China’s maritime trade and energy routes.

Lt. Gen. Menon also recommends that India develop positive and negative levers to deal with Pakistan. The recent mutilation of Indian soldiers along the Line of Control demonstrated the need to add more arrows to India’s diplomatic quiver. Non-Alignment has been at the centre of India’s foreign policy for over four decades, and it can provide the impetus for partnerships that support India’s strategic interests well into the new century.

Aakash Brahmachari is a Senior Researcher at Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations.

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