Indian Ocean significant for regional and global actors: Experts

ISLAMABAD, July 22: Indian Ocean carries great significance for the regional and global actors as the whole world is geo-strategically pivoted towards the region given its ability and geography which provide a canvas for power projection and great power competition, said experts at an event on ‘Maritime Security Issues in the Indian Ocean: Perspective of Littoral/Global States’ jointly organized by the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) and National Institute of Maritime Affairs (NIMA) here on Thursday.
Admiral Iftikhar Ahmed Rao and Dr Zafar Nawaz Jaspal were of the opinion that the Indian Ocean was the most vulnerable to maritime security issues such as piracy, maritime terrorism, illegal trafficking, and exploitation of the environment. Therefore, cooperation rather than conflict was needed to obtain peace for the region, which would hopefully result in geo-economics and geostrategic benefits for the world.
Admiral Rao said that maritime security of the Indian Ocean was transnational in nature. All the littoral and global stakeholders must ensure the ultimate security of the region as most of the global trade and geo-economics revolve around it, he said. He stated that the US was trying to rebalance its equation towards the Indian Ocean through AUKUS, QUAD, and the ‘Pivot to Asia’ strategy. Meanwhile, China seemed to have become the new US of the region.
Dr. Zafar Nawaz Jaswal said that geo-economics might take precedence over geopolitics/geostrategy but the former could not be pursued without having the jaws and teeth of the latter. He underscored that the Indian Ocean was the pivot of geopolitical transformations and hence was exposed to emerging military technologies of the globalized world. He extended his view on the global strategic environment and predicted that the Indian Ocean was yet to witness a new competition of great powers. He also stressed the nuclearization of the Indian Ocean. DrJaspal emphasized that with the already present nuclear states in the region (Pakistan and India); the shoring up of western naval activities particularly concerning AUKUS (which had provided Australia with nuclear-powered submarines) had clearly amplified the nuclearization of the Indian Ocean. Furthermore, he stressed that in order to cash the geo-economic benefits of the Indian Ocean; the world needs to maintain stability in the region by collectively countering the geostrategic and geo-political challenges.-PR