Ostensibly, our national objectives are to have a peaceful neighbourhood. What should be the strategy to achieve it? Statements like a "stable and secure neighbours are in India's interest" are well meant. The fundamental question, however, is -- "Will India's neighbours ever be stable and secure?" Appeasement of neighbours cannot constitute a strategy for any country.
India's larger objective in Asia is to emerge as a geo-economic hub that can integrate and influence its extended neighbourhood through mutually beneficial economic linkages and military relationships. As a benevolent power that has no external territorial interests, India is uniquely located -- geographically and culturally to play this role effectively.
India's free media can be intelligently harnessed to further these national objectives and develop the complementarities that influence Asia.
To attain eminence in Asia, India needs to move simultaneously on three axes. These are India-West Asia, India-Southeast Asia and India-Central Asia. Of these, the critical one is the India-Afghanistan-Iran-Russia axis.
Today, Russia is reacting firmly to intruders into its neighbourhood. Her economic and military resurgence presents an opportunity for a relationship which would lend stability to the region.
Moreover, as the second largest consumer of oil and gas in Asia, the assurance of uninterrupted energy supplies is a vital factor in India’s security calculus. By 2010, a substantial amount of oil and gas will be sourced from Central Asia.
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