India and the Indo-Pacific [UPSC Notes]

The PM made a visit to the pacific Island countries in order to strengthen diplomatic ties. The visit by PM Narendra Modi to Papua New Guinea shows that the democratic world and India have united against China’s efforts to establish hegemony in the PIC area. This is an important topic for the IAS exam International Relations segment.

India and the Indo-Pacific:

• Beginning 1879, Indian indentured labour was transported to Fiji to work on sugarcane plantations. Some 60,000 Indians were brought to the islands between 1879 and 1916; from the early 20th century, Indian traders and others also started arriving in Fiji.
• Workers’ agitations and the efforts of C F Andrews, a friend of Mahatma Gandhi’s who visited Fiji in 1915 and 1917, led to the abolition of the indenture system in 1920.
• From 1948 until Fiji’s independence in 1970, India had a Commissioner to look after the interests of people of Indian origin; the post was upgraded to that of High Commissioner after independence.
• Engagement  with the 14 PICs is part of India’s Act East Policy. A major part of the engagement is through development assistance under South-South Cooperation, mainly in the form of capacity building (training, scholarships, grant-in-aid and loan assistance) and community development projects.
  • As part of a project for solar electrification of 2,800 houses in 14 PICs, 70 women solar engineers — called Solar Mamas — have been trained. While addressing climate change and goals of sustainable development, the project also aims to provide livelihoods to women.
• India has been providing Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) to the PICs from time to time. It assisted various PICs with the supply of Covid-19 vaccines and medical supplies during the pandemic. 

Pacific Island Countries (PICs): 

• PICs is a cluster of 14 island nations dotting the Southwestern Pacific:
  • The Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. 
• All these islands are located at the crossroads of strategically important maritime trade corridors.
• The South Pacific was considered to be under US influence, managed under the Australia, New Zealand, US (ANZUS) trilateral military alliance. 
  • But with China’s growing influence in the region, and the increasing focus on the Indo-Pacific, New Delhi’s engagement strategy in the region has evolved.
• Of the 14 PICs, Fiji and Papua New Guinea (PNG) are the ones with the biggest populations.
  • India’s interaction with the PICs has traditionally focussed on its engagement with Fiji and PNG, mainly due to the presence of a large diaspora — about 37% of Fiji’s 849,000 population is of Indian origin, and about 3,000 Indians live in PNG.

India and the Indo-Pacific [UPSC Notes]:- Download PDF Here