India seeks to become ‘Global South champion’, as US-China rivalry heats up in the Pacific

PM Modi says India will be a reliable partner, as New Delhi banks on goodwill from historical links with Pacific nations to make further inroads into the region
India’s interest in the region means Pacific nations now have ‘real alternatives’ to their development that are not dependent on China, one observer notes

India

Maria Siow

Published: 9:30am, 24 May 2023

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Even as India emerges as a US partner in countering China, New Delhi is eyeing to be a “champion” of the Global South, aided by its historical links with the Pacific that give it a level of goodwill not even the US and Australia can match, analysts have said.

During a summit with Pacific leaders in Port Moresby on Monday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told members of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation that Delhi would be a reliable partner to small island states amid difficulties caused by supply chain disruptions and climate change.

The 14 countries include the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Niue, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Papua New Guinea Grand Chief Bob Dadae welcomes India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi (centre) for a meeting in Port Moresby on Monday. Photo: Government of Papua New Guinea/AFP

After a bilateral meeting with PNG leader James Marape, Modi said on social media he had discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in commerce, technology and healthcare, and in addressing climate change with the tiny island.

Describing smaller Pacific nations as “victims of global power play”, Marape reportedly asked Modi to be the leader of Global South, a term which refers to developing nations south of the equator.

Rafiq Dossani, director of the US-based RAND Centre for Asia-Pacific Policy, said India’s interest in the region was part of its “ideological commitment to the Global South and helping fulfil its own ambition as a great power”.

Delhi wished to be known as the “champion of the Global South”, even if strategically the islands did not mean as much to India as they did to the United States and China, Dossani noted.

In recent years, China’s growing economic influence and strategic interest in the region have compelled the US to pay more attention to the region, such as through setting up embassies and renewing a strategic pact with Micronesia.

US, Papua New Guinea sign defence pact at Pacific summit

This week, visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed a new bilateral defence cooperation agreement with PNG aimed at expanding Port Moresby’s capabilities and making it easier for the US military to train with its forces.

Dossani said India’s interest in the Pacific Islands stemmed from the large ethnic Indian population “commercially successful” in the region, such as in Fiji in 1879 when Indian labourers were brought to the country to work on sugar cane plantations.

“India’s recent economic growth has allowed it to transfer more resources than before to the Pacific Islands to support their development”, thereby earning goodwill that had not been earned by other powers in the region such as the US and Australia, Dossani said.

In 2019, India announced US$12 million in grants for developmental projects and a US$150 million concessional line of credit used for solar, renewable energy and climate-related projects.

Ships are docked offshore in Honiara. The Solomon Islands’ security pact with China has raised concerns Beijing would send military forces to the region. Photo: AP

Harsh V Pant, an international relations professor at King’s College London, said the region had emerged as a new battleground in the “geopolitical contestation” between the US and China.

“India certainly would want to be in that space providing an alternative to a number of these countries who do not want to be embroiled in this new Cold War,” said Pant, who has described China’s approach as “militarisation of its diplomacy” in the region.

In contrast, India’s approach had been more development-oriented, Pant said, adding that Delhi had also tried to project the voice of developing countries at platforms such as the G20 which it currently chairs.

02:17

China confirms signing of Solomon Islands security pact, as US warns of regional instability

Last year, China and the Solomon Islands signed a security pact aimed at helping Honiara maintain social order and boosting national security; a clause in the agreement allowing Chinese ships to visit has raised concerns that Beijing would send military forces to the region.

Cleo Paskal, non-resident senior fellow for the Indo-Pacific at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said India was the only member of the Quad – which also includes Australia, Japan and the US – that could help Pacific nations improve broad aspects of human security.

“India can provide affordable, quality healthcare, education, IT, energy systems and more,” Paskal said, noting that regional countries had “real alternatives in their development, ones that aren’t dependent on China”.

Paskal said China’s engagement with the region often carried with it corruption that “results in a weakening of the institutions of the state” and was a “threat to democracy and the rule of law”.

Micronesian President David Panuelo has accused China of bribery and harassment. File photo: EPA-EFE

In March, outgoing Micronesia president David Panuelo accused China of bribery and harassment, including coercion of government officials and stuffing envelopes “with money after a meal” at the Chinese embassy or after an inauguration.

“We are bribed to be complicit, and bribed to be silent,” Panuelo wrote in a letter to state governors and other political leaders.

By 2021, China’s direct investment in the region reached US$2.72 billion: 10 countries had signed cooperation pacts on the Belt and Road Initiative – Beijing’s global connectivity project – while PNG and Vanuatu signed belt and road cooperation plans, according to China’s foreign ministry.

Asia-Pacific risk analyst Kanchi Mathur, from India-based governance, risk and compliance firm WoRisGo, said the Pacific Islands accounted for nearly 28 per cent of the global exclusive economic zone.

“[The region is] one of the most important assets to major and regional powers of the Indo-Pacific,” Mathur said, noting that China’s expanded presence offered economic and strategic advantages which were of increasing concern to the US and India.