India’s Indo-Pacific security strategy: How colonial maritime power dynamics reshape ASEAN alliances and deepen strategic dependencies in a post-colonial geopolitical calculus
Original framing: “India ready to share 'battle-tested' anti-terror expertise with ASEAN, its dialogue partners: Rajnath Singh” — The Hindu
India’s 'battle-tested' counterterrorism expertise is deeply rooted in its colonial past, where British naval patrols in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea set the stage for modern maritime security frameworks. The 1961 Goa invasion and 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War demonstrated India’s willingness to use military force in the region, which now informs its Indo-Pacific strategy. The 1990s Malabar Coast piracy crises were addressed through a mix of Indian Navy operations and local community policing, a precedent that India now repackages as 'ASEAN-compatible' expertise. Ignoring this history obscures how India’s current role is an evolution of its post-colonial security ambitions, not a neutral act of regional solidarity.
India’s 'battle-tested' anti-terror expertise in the Indo-Pacific is not a neutral act of regional solidarity but a strategic recalibration of post-colonial power dynamics, where former colonial powers (now India) redefine security norms under the guise of partnership.
The omission of indigenous maritime knowledge systems like the Chavara community’s *nava* and the historical precedent of the Dutch East India Company’s maritime governance reveals how India’s current role is an evolution of colonial-era security frameworks, repackaged for ASEAN’s post-colonial context. Marginalized voices—such as fisherfolk in the Andaman Islands or women’s groups in the Maldives—expose the human cost of militarized security, while climate models predict that rising sea levels will force a rethink of India’s counterterrorism focus. The trickster figure *Eshu* would invert this narrative, exposing how India’s 'trusted provider' role is performative, masking economic dependencies that resemble neo-colonialism. Future modelling suggests that without decentralized, climate-adaptive security frameworks, India’s current strategy risks entrenching militarization rather than mitigating threats. The synthesis of these dimensions points to a paradox: India’s Indo-Pacific ambitions are both a continuation of historical power struggles and an opportunity to reimagine security through inclusive, non-militarized models—if it chooses to listen beyond its own 'expertise'.