29 July 2020, NIICE Commentary 5726
Dr. Apra Vaidya
The COVID-19 outbreak has posed a daunting healthcare crisis worldwide and the severity of the pandemic is still unfolding. While there are speculations of a multilateral world approaching, it is surprising that South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has shown little progress in coming up with a combined cooperative mechanism to fight the pandemic. Several scholars have viewed SAARC as being ‘non-functional’ and the reasons behind calling it ‘defunct’ are various but the main hurdle that the organisation faces is the uneasy relationship between India and Pakistan. Consequently, the India-Pakistan bilateral issues have pushed back SAARC’s common agenda.
As COVID-19 poses an unprecedented threat to the humanity, this article argues that there is a scope and urgent need of bringing SAARC back to life from the virtual comatose. While there have been efforts to formulate a joint response to fight the crisis, the results so far are lacklustre. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 13 March 2020 called for SAARC countries to chalk out a strategy to fight COVID-19. On 15 March, India proposed a “COVID-19 Emergency Fund” and announced USD 10 millions for this fund followed by Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Maldives and Pakistan. A website was developed by the SAARC Disaster Management Centre (SDMC-IU) at Gandhinagar, Gujarat to disseminate information related to Coronavirus in the South Asian region. A video conference of health professions from SAARC countries was also held in the last week of March as a follow-up action. Later, on 8 April, a video conference of senior trade officials was held to discuss about the COVID-19 situation on intra-regional trade. All the SAARC nations, except Pakistan participated in this conference. Indian Prime Minister Modi had telephonic conversations with the President of the Maldives, Prime Minister of Nepal, Prime Minister of Bangladesh as well as Prime Minister of Bhutan to discuss multiple issues arose out of COVID-19 in the month of April. The leaders of SAARC countries expressed their appreciations for the gesture initiated by India. However, Pakistan was skeptic about India’s move. Though the initiative was lauded, there has been little accomplishment by the SAARC countries to control the evolving challenges. COVID-19 has had a major impact on the socio-political conditions of the region. Therefore, a roadmap or recovery plan is needed for the SAARC countries.
Policy Recommendations for India
In order to have a comprehensive plan, there are certain initiatives India can adopt being the largest country in the South Asian region. To begin with, first and as a short-term strategy, India needs to keep aside the contentious issues related to cross-border terrorism with Pakistan (at least for the moment) in the times of the crises for the functioning of the regional organisation. India took a mature decision to attend the video conference which was hosted by Pakistan. For the long-term strategy, both India and Pakistan need an alternative approach from the zero-sum theoretical interplay.
Second, being projected as a ‘soft power’, India needs to showcase its diplomatic overture skills and take imperative steps during this pandemic. For instance, the secretaries of respective health ministries of all these countries need to meet at regular intervals.
Third, it is safe to assume, given the capabilities of Indian pharmaceutical industry, that once a vaccine is developed, be it homegrown or from any other part in the world, India will play a crucial role in producing and supplying it. Policy decisions to help all the SAARC members with timely and copious deliveries of the vaccine will shore up trust and credibility. The Chinese race towards developing a vaccine cannot be ignored.
Fourth, there can be virtual meets of the academicians, doctors and experts in various fields to stay connected through official channels so that there are people-to-people exchange to prevail the sense of togetherness of this region.
These steps, particularly the trust building, are imperative for India keeping in view there have been several irritants between India and its other neighbouring countries. In India-Nepal relationship, the border issue between the two is the latest in the series of irritants. India’s inauguration of Himalayan link road which passes through Lipulekh has been protested by Nepal. Both the neighbouring countries claim this territory as their own which has openly affected their ‘special’ ties. In the past, India has faced criticism as it could not deliver the development projects on time in Nepal. In addition to this, Nepal also viewed India’s policy towards the country as interfering in their domestic politics. Similarly, the water sharing of the Teesta Rivers has been a matter of contention between Bangladesh and India. In the latest matter which can stress their bilateral ties, Bangladesh has raised its concerns over India’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) process.
Apart from mistrust, India’s idea of ‘big brother’ and even its ‘leadership’ role looks faltered since the neighbouring countries view India’s every move with some degree of skepticism. The countries in Southern Asia refrain from being caught in the crosshair of a power tussle between two giants – India and China. The policymakers and Indian leadership need to respect and learn to maneuver around these thinly explained redlines.
Along with the non-traditional security threat which all the South Asian countries are grappling with, India is facing a traditional security threat too. Presently, India–China ties are going through a critically delicate phase due to the border feud at Galwan valley in Ladakh in June 2020. According to experts, it might be a watershed moment in Sino-Indian relationship.
China presently has a strong footprint in the South Asian region. Over the years, China has built bilateral ties with most of the South Asian countries. China, presently an observer in SAARC, has long been looking forward to become a member of SAARC. However, India has been apprehensive especially due to China being placed in a better position economically and militarily. When China introduced its most ambitious multi-country infrastructure development and communication project One Belt One Road (OBOR), now popularly known as Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), in 2013, the project drew support from various countries in the world and many South Asian countries also showed commitment. It drew criticism and skepticism from rivals of China who perceive this as a ploy of neo-colonialism with an intent of putting economically weaker countries in a vicious circle of debt trap. Chinese loans to India’s neighbourhood countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives and Sri Lanka have created indebtedness in these countries, and have helped China to gain strategic foothold in the region, which India considers as core to its security. The sovereignty issues that India has raised over China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) have found little resonance in denting Chinese plans of expansionism. Projects have gone ahead in the disputed areas despite India’s spirited opposition.
Realpolitik suggests that China would not pay heed to India’s contestations and infrastructural projects will continue. Therefore, India needs to realign the foreign policy directions with the studied understanding of China’s goals – both short-term and long-term. Moreover, the immediate neighbourhood assumes supreme importance and SAARC can be a platform that for regaining the trust and support of its members.
Considering the South Asian shared historical, cultural, religious ties, and now from its strategic and economic standpoints, there is a dire need that India recalibrates its “neighbourhood first policy” and revive SAARC to deal with China. The present non-traditional security threat has presented India an opportunity to give a boost to SAARC, win back the trust of neighbouring countries and display its efforts of regional integration. However, the perception about India will not change with one or two stand-alone goodwill gestures. It is a long process; therefore, India needs to display its real strengths as ‘soft power’ and should proactively start this long overdue process.
