As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh commented earlier this year, India now sees itself as a “net security provider” to the region. This reflects India’s aspirations to take a leading strategic role throughout the Indian Ocean and to expand its strategic reach even into the Pacific.It is natural to expect that India’s area of strategic interest will grow as its economic and political influence expands. This means that in coming years India will have a growing interest in encouraging regional stability, including in containing problems that emanate from the many failed or fragile states in our region.
Many countries see India in benign terms and welcome its rise as a regional security provider. There is a growing expectation that India will shoulder more of the responsibilities of providing the so-called “public goods” of security. The Indian Navy is already an important provider of security throughout much of the western Indian Ocean to combat threats coming from the failed state of Somalia.