Introduction
Over the recent decade there has been an escalation of rivalry India and China and their role in the Indian Ocean Region. As two major emerging economies, they are faced with a security dilemma as they continue to grow economically and influentially to the surrounding states. As this process progresses the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) becomes to be one of the central security concerns. The idea that whoever controls the sea, controls the region is forcing India and China to become competitive with each other in order to secure their state interests. As these two countries continue to gain influence, who controls this region grows as a security dilemma. Furthermore, as the issue becomes more volatile the role of the United States, as the world’s superpower, in the IOR is discussed. This article examines the relationship between Indian and China and how their geographic proximity and their great power ambitions could potentially create a future security issue. A third country that plays a vital role in the IOR is the United States but as China and India grow more dominant, the future role of the United States in the IOR is uncertain. The security issue will be examined through the lens of Geopolitical Theory, specifically the work of Alfred Mahan.
The Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean represents an increasingly significant avenue for global trade and has become an arena fraught with global security concerns (Michel, Sticklor, 2012, 9). Over the past decade, Asia’s dependence on natural resources has increased due to the large increase in population within the region. The Indian Ocean, the third largest in the world covering roughly 73 million square miles, links this entire region with its capacity to act as an effective ...
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... concentrated to deter and dissuade potential adversaries and peer competitors (Bradford, 2011, 186). This statement applies to the rising security actions that have been demonstrated between China and India in order to secure their claim over the Indian Ocean region. The United States first and foremost goal is to secure their sea lanes which they use to transport trade but if the security issues between China and India continue to rise, United States will be forced to act as a mediator and a stabilizer in this region. China and United States have similar goals and in the past have collaborated on some issues.
For example, the Chinese have collaborated with United States conducting anti-piracy activities in the Gulf of Aden. To this day these two countries collaborate on this issue. In addition to this, both countries have accommodated each other maritime leaders
For the first time in the history of cross-strait tensions, there was a real threat that Washington and the CCP could engage in war. Washington’s involvement would come in because of the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act. The implication of this Act is that the U.S. promised to protect Taiwan in the event of an attack. Therefore, if the CCP decided to engage in a war with Taiwan, the United States would have no choice but to support Taiwan.
United Nations , "United Nations and Convention on the Law of the Sea:Division for Ocean Affairs and the LAw of the Sea." Accessed November 27, 2013. http://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/UNCLOS-TOC.htm.
Though the world economy as a whole has grown in recent years, a factor that is not taken into account is that the number “of the poor in the world has increased by 100 million” (Roy 3). In other words, the gap between rich and poor is widening. For India, this has startling implications. Though it is a nation that is developing in many ways, it also is a nation blessed with over one billion citizens, a population tally that continues to grow at a rapid rate. This population increase will greatly tax resources, which can create a setback in the development process. The tragedy, of course, is that the world is full of resources and wealth. In fact, Roy quotes a statistic showing that corporations, and not even just countries, represent 51 of the 100 largest economies in the world (Roy 3). For a country struggling to develop, such information is disheartening. However, there is also a more nefarious consequence of the growing disparity between rich and poor, and power and money being concentrated in the hands of multinational corporations: war is propagated in the name of resource acquisition, and corruption can reign as multinationals seek confederates in developing countries that will help companies drive through their plans, resulting in not only environmental destruction but also the subversion of democracy (Roy 3).
Moreover, economic interdependence promotes peaceful trade between countries since it is beneficial and avoids war at all cost. For example, “China’s economy is thoroughly integrated in this complex interdependence global economy,” thus it would be suicidal for China to start war (Wong, The Rise of Great Powers, Nov.18). China free trades with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and has developed a profitable relationship that led to trade surplus (Kaplan, pg.3). As a result, starting conflicts with the ASEAN will threaten the Chinese economy because it will drastically impact free trade and will cause a downfall in profits. The possibility of war between China and United States is remote because China would rather benefit from resources such as, security, technology, and market that United States provides (Wong, The Rise of Great Powers, Nov.18). Although economic power shifts to China, United States provides security because it has always been the dominant hegemony; therefore, it has a better and powerful economy (Green, pg.34). It is evident that China’s economy is rapidly increasing, but it still has no interest in being the head hegemony and therefore does not challenge United States. That being said, countries choose to avoid conflicts with United States or their trading partners since it will negatively impact their markets and investments.
The study of the geopolitics around the globe and over time is a complex task. Numerous factors influence the causal chain of events that determine the course of a state’s history. Geography in its broadest sense limits the ability of a state to become a superpower, but it also allows certain states to thrive with relative ease compared to lesser developed countries. Location, terrain, technology, and demographics work in conjunction to affect the power of certain states, and it is through the effective use of these elements states attempt to raise or maintain their power. It is the fundamental goal of states to seek relative power over other states and regions, and states will act in ways they believe will maintain or increase their power. However, whiles sometimes states may act irrationally or in ways contrary to their own best interest, ultimately what is fundamental to the actions of a state is the belief that their actions will maintain or increase the state’s power.
Evaluating threats to America’s national security is a challenge that is undertaken by academics, intelligence analysts, policy-makers, and anyone else with the patience. During the Cold War, America’s biggest concern was easy to define, the only other state capable of competing with America, the Soviet Union. Today, America faces threats from states, non-state actors, domestic groups, and even economic conditions. However, two states should always be kept in mind when discussing national security, China and Russia, with China being the biggest threat.
Ocean Pollution is a serious issue in today's global politics. The delicate balance of Earth's ecosystem is put in jeopardy when the ocean is not clean. Problem evolving from ocean pollution directly harm marine life and indirectly affect human health and the Earth's many valuable resources. Ocean Pollution is a Broad term that encpompasses any and all foregin matter that directly or indirectly makes its way into the ocean. This includes everything from the extreme: oil spills, Toxic Waste dumping and industrial dumping-- to the small scael: human activities and basic carelessness. Because the oceans and all other water bodies are invariably, somehow connected, and because they account for 3/4 of the Earth's surface, they are an ideal method of transportation for pollution, allowing the rapid spread of seemingly far away toxins into a river near you! It is increasingly important that we educate ourselves as to what, exactly, ocean pollution is, so that we can identify the causes at their source and take action in small and large ways, and hopefully, prevent this terrible form of pollution from getting any worse than it is today.
INTRODUCTION : a brief overview of the current situation regarding the security issue in the Pacific region
The liberal internationalist though, believes that international progress, progress being high levels of cooperation between states, can achieve through multilateral agreements and diplomacy (Britannica). International bodies like the United Nations, the World Bank, etc. would facilitate the necessary procedures that the US would use to resolve some of the foreign policy challenges. The rise of Chinese power in southeast Asia is one of the priorities in the US foreign policy agenda, and a liberal internationalist approach is the most suited to tackle the issue. The rise of Chinese regional power presents itself to be challenging because of the broad implications that it attaches itself to. From aggressive policies in the south china sea to the North Korean dilemma, chines power holds a key factor that aggravates the international community, making it a priority in the US grand
Given these sets of circumstances, china, Taiwan and United States have much to gain and even more to lose if an armed conflict erupts in the Taiwan Strait. All three countries have political, economic, and national security issues involved and united states and china are both in competition economic...
"Oceans." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2014. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 8 May 2014.
Maldives is a collection of about 1000 islands with a combined mass of 115 square miles occupied by approximately 330,000 people, which is in the Indian Ocean (Hannah, J. A., Muller, P. O., & Nijman, J., 2012). The rise in the sea level is a concern that all of Maldives shares, the islands only set eight feet above sea level at its highest point. Any rise in the sea level would disrupt the country’s economic balance. The rising sea level threatens the beachfront resorts for which most of Maldives economy depends on. Thousands of people every year travel to Maldives to...
According to the World Bank Development Report 2013 there has been an increase in global surface temperature of 0.4 to 0.9 Celsius (C) in the past 100 years. This change in temperature largely caused, according to the IPCC, by the release of GHGs through human activities. There are several effects associated to the change in global temperature, mainly affecting ecosystems and populations worldwide. Among these effects or consequences are sea-level rise, drought, floods, loss of mangroves, and the intensification of storms and climate processes such as El Nino and La Nina. Recent studies have focused on sea-level rise and the global effects. Over the past 100 years, sea levels have increased by 10 to 20 centimeters (World Bank, 2003). Moreover, arctic sea-ice has continued to shrink up to 10 percent or more of its total mass and by 40 percent of its thickness. Glaciers and small ice caps are rapidly melting, causing several changes in the flows of rivers and ecosystems, as well as adding to the increase of sea levels. Sea level rise will most likely severely affect unprepared, developing countries and their populations. Concomitantly, developed industrial countries with higher levels of GDP are likely to cope more efficiently with the effects of sea level rise. This paper will focus on the prognosticated socio-economic costs of s...
The Horn of Africa is one of the most important hubs for maritime traffic in the world today. Raw goods, including oil, that are departing the nations of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East must pass through this area in route to Europe and the West. Three-fourths of the Earth is covered in water and roughly eighty percent of global economic goods are transported via commercial maritime shippers. The volume of maritime trade is highly congested in this region. Ships must pass through either the Gulf of Aden and ultimately to the Mediterranean or proceed south from the Arabian Sea towards the southern trip of Africa via the Indian Ocean. Piracy in the region has increasing dramatically in the last decade, largely because Somalia and Yemen can be considered failed states. The lack of government involvement in suppressing pirate activities has indirectly allowed them to flourish. The sheer size of the area, roughly two and a half billion square miles, goes predominantly unpatrolled. The scope of the problem piracy poses pales in comparison to the size of the ocean in which they successfully operate.
Bowermaster, Jon. Oceans: The Threats to Our Seas and What You Can Do to Turn the Tide: A Participant Media Guide. New York: PublicAffairs, 2010. Print.