Home arrow Archives arrow Round the World arrow Round the World 2006 arrow Diplomatic Tug Of War:India AND Energy Insecurity, by Dr. Chintamani Mahapatra,31 January 2006
 
Home
News and Features
INFA Digest
Parliament Spotlight
Dossiers
Publications
Journalism Awards
Archives
RSS
 
 
 
 
 
 
Diplomatic Tug Of War:India AND Energy Insecurity, by Dr. Chintamani Mahapatra,31 January 2006 Print E-mail

ROUND THE WORLD

New Delhi, 31 January 2006

Diplomatic Tug Of War

India AND Energy Insecurity

By Dr. Chintamani Mahapatra

School of International Studies, JNU

The diplomatic tug of war surrounding the proposed deal between India and the US to establish cooperation in civilian nuclear technology is born out of emerging energy insecurity.

The American pressure on India to support its confrontational approach towards Iran and Syria in exchange of US agreement to supply civilian nuclear technology to India is the beginning of a challenge to Indian quest for assured supply of energy to fuel its growing economy.

Geo-political analysts understand that the growing demand for oil and gas and the shrinking supply of these two energy resources may provide the real basis on which future wars are going to be fought. Although the Western analysts and political leaders are focused on the rising requirement of energy resources in China and India and predict that these two emerging Asian economic giants will shortly be competing and scrambling for assured energy supplies, the Americans and Europeans are not lagging behind.

With five per cent population, the Americans consume about quarter of the world energy. While it is an oil and gas producing country, the US is increasingly becoming dependent on oil imports from external sources. The European demand for oil and gas too is consistently rising. Both India and China are late comers to the industrial age. They have started their economic and industrial performance from a low base and hence in terms of percentage of their energy demands in the future, these two economies become more visible. But the industrial economies of Europe, Japan and the US consume the larger chunk of the world energy resources and in terms of absolute quantities these countries will continue be on the top.

The major European countries, such as Germany, Britain and France; Japan and the US all are strategizing to meet the future demands of hydrocarbon resources. France, for instance, has invested tremendously in the generation of civilian nuclear power, Germany has signed a deal with Russia, the second largest oil and gas exporter, to build a pipeline to buy the Russian energy resources. The US is seeking to buy LNG from Russia. China too is developing a network of relationship with the oil and gas producing countries of the Middle-East and even Latin America. It is also in the process of acquiring basing facilities in some countries to protect the routes of its energy imports.

Compared to the Americans, Chinese and others, India’s energy consumption is much lower. Americans, for instance, consume about 20 million barrels of oil per day, the Chinese consume about 6 to 7 million bpd. But India’s figure is about 2 million bpd. China’s demands in the future will be much more than that of India. Yet, India has to meet its growing energy demands more and more through imports alone. In order to do that the Government of India has been making modest attempts to build its own energy corridors. The gas pipeline project with Iran, the proposed investment in Syria along with the Chinese, efforts towards improving energy cooperation with Saudi Arabia and India’s efforts to acquire advanced civilian nuclear technology from the United States are all aimed at managing the country’s energy security.

Politics and diplomacy, however, have erected significant barricades and it would require no less effort to overcome these difficulties. The most significant challenge is clearly coming from India’s emerging strategic partner—the United States. The American energy policy and strategy are guided by both economic and strategic considerations.

Unlike the Europeans, Japanese and other Asian countries, the US is not dependent on the Middle-East for its energy supply. It receives the bulk of its external energy resources from NAFTA partners, such as Canada, Mexico and Venezuela. The current political standoff with Venezuela does not pose such a big threat to US energy security.

But the fact remains that the power, which is least dependent on the Middle-Eastern oil, has maximum influence in this region. The US military presence in the Persian Gulf has been robust since the `1991 Gulf War and has enhanced further since 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, DC. The US is not as directly affected by the volatility of the Middle-Eastern politics and security as others. In the process, Washington exercises awesome leverage over its allies and friends in Europe and Asia.

The US confrontation with Iran on the nuclear issue, with Syria on the issue of assassination of a former Lebanese Prime Minister, its continuing military involvement in Iraq and unstinted support to Israel have posed serious dilemmas for traditional US allies in Europe and for emerging strategic partner like India.

During the days of non-alignment and cold war, New Delhi could afford to take diametrically opposite positions vis-a-vis the US on international events and issues. This luxury will be more and more scant as India intensifies its economic, defence and political cooperation with the United States.

The current differences with Washington on Iran and Syria are stark reminders of difficult days ahead. India has strategic, economic and even political interests in the Middle-East, which do not always converge with that of the United States. Sooner the Indian Ministry of External Affairs begins an exercise to demarcate the diplomatic boundaries on such issues better it would be for India to meet future challenges.

It so happens that India has been seeking to ensure its energy security by building ties with countries, such as Iran and Syria, which are on the hit list of the US State Department and the Pentagon for various reasons. We are building a similar ties with Saudi Arabia when the US ties with that country has been faltering since the 9/11 incident.

Unlike in the past, Washington considers India to be an influential international actor and fears that Indian engagement with difficult countries in the Middle-East could spoil the US approach. How can India befriend the US and its smaller Middle-Eastern adversaries at the same time? India has to begin preparations for getting the right answer, which can maintain and protect its national interests.--INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

< Previous   Next >
 
   
     
 
 
  Mambo powered by Best-IT