-
CENTRES
Progammes & Centres
Location
Indo-US cooperation under the Indo-Pacific framework can boost Northeast India’s infrastructure, trade, and digital connectivity amid regional challenges.
The Indo-Pacific region has emerged as a pivotal theatre in contemporary geopolitics, both as a hub of global trade and commerce and an arena of intense competition. Since Shinzo Abe’s reference to the confluence of democracies across the Indian and the Pacific Ocean in his address to the Indian Parliament in 2006, many countries across the two oceans have adopted the Indo-Pacific nomenclature as a geopolitical discourse on regionalism. Two such prominent stakeholders are India and the United States (US). While their current relationship has experienced hiccups due to the latter’s imposition of trade tariffs, the two nations have defined their strategic partnership as a cornerstone of a free, open, and prosperous Indo-Pacific regional order over the past two decades.
Since Shinzo Abe’s reference to the confluence of democracies across the Indian and the Pacific Ocean in his address to the Indian Parliament in 2006, many countries across the two oceans have adopted the Indo-Pacific nomenclature as a geopolitical discourse on regionalism.
The US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific guides government actions in promoting trade and technical assistance to its allies and strategic partners. The framework acknowledges India’s strategic importance as a pre-eminent power in South Asia and the Indian Ocean, and America's preferred partner for the security and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific. India’s vision of the Indo-Pacific, given concrete shape at Prime Minister (PM) Modi’s address at the Shangri La Dialogue in 2018, and which reflects in numerous policy formulations such as Act East, Neighbourhood First, Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR), and the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI), has many parallels with Washington even as New Delhi maintains considerable degree of autonomy in pursuance of its Indo-Pacific objectives.
The importance of connectivity is one such common area of interest and remains at the forefront of their cooperation under the Indo-Pacific framework. The U.S. Strategic Framework emphasises the importance of engaging with India through capacity building and new initiatives to enhance regional connectivity between India and its neighbourhood. The latter aspect is significant for India because the Northeast is central to New Delhi’s vision of Indo-Pacific connectivity. With eight landlocked states sharing 99 percent of its international borders with China, Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Nepal, internal and cross-border connectivity form the bedrock of India's domestic and foreign policy vis-à-vis the region. Engagement with the US under the Indo-Pacific framework has the potential to address the connectivity concerns of India’s Northeast, thereby facilitating regional economic cooperation, cross-border trade flows, and the country’s geopolitical influence in the Indo-Pacific.
For the US, engagement through developmental cooperation with India’s Northeast, although not explicitly mentioned in the framework, has multiple strategic utilities. The framework aligns to unlock America’s economic potential by strengthening regional capacity, diversifying regional supply chains, and, most importantly, pursuing a strategic counterweight to China's growing influence in the region. Some of the potential areas where the US can play a role, considering the Northeast's connectivity requirements, are:
The framework aligns to unlock America’s economic potential by strengthening regional capacity, diversifying regional supply chains, and, most importantly, pursuing a strategic counterweight to China's growing influence in the region.
The lack of or inadequate infrastructure is one of the primary reasons why the Northeast lags in internal and cross-border connectivity. Even as the Northeast is associated with significant cross-border connectivity projects, such as the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway, the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transport Transit Project, the Agartala-Akhaura Rail link, and the Maitree Bridge project, internal connectivity within the region must be substantially enhanced to accrue the benefits of these projects.
Here, the regional infrastructure development component of the US Indo-Pacific framework is potentially relevant. For instance, the US International Development Finance Corporation, which invests in development projects abroad and considers India as a central player in America’s engagement with the Indo-Pacific, can utilise its priorities of critical and digital infrastructure, including building seaports, roads, airports, railways, data centres, and IT networks for the development of the Northeast’s connectivity infrastructure.
Furthermore, establishing resilient supply chains is crucial for fostering cross-border trade in the Northeast region. The US’s engagement with India through the Supply Chain Resilience Agreement—under the second pillar of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF)—to identify and improve supply chain resilience in critical sectors and coordinate during supply chain disruptions, can benefit the Northeast. The US expertise in supply chain management can better integrate the Northeast into regional and global supply chain networks by fostering trade, improving access to these markets, enhancing production and distribution, and developing the Northeast into an efficient transit space for the flow of goods.
Beyond establishing resilient supply chains, inland and maritime transportation networks form the heart of connectivity. While the Northeast is landlocked, a potential sector that warrants enhancement is the inland waterways system for cross-border and multi-modal connections. Northeast India has 20 national waterways, with even more in the pipeline. However, these remain severely underutilised (representing only 0.4 percent of transportation) due to inadequate infrastructure, draft and width for year-round navigation, sedimentation of waterways, shoals, lack of periodic dredging, and absence of night navigational facilities. Under the Indo-Pacific cooperation framework, the US firms specialising in greenfield port development can assist with investment, technology transfer, and capacity building to modernise the inland waterways system of the Northeast.
Trade wars can erode decades of progress in the relationship and negatively impact the US's strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific framework involving India, potentially stalling development plans in the Northeast before they even begin.
Almost all the Northeastern states lag in internet use and digital adoption of services due to a lack of adequate IT infrastructure. Initiatives such as Digital Connectivity and Cybersecurity Partnership, Cyber Security for Critical Infrastructure 2.0: U.S.-India Partnership, US-India TRUST (Transforming the Relationship Utilising Strategic Technology) initiative, and INDUS-X, and the US expertise on advocacy and training on secure internet and security of critical infrastructure can be utilised to bridge the digital divide of the Northeast.
While the US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific has the potential to augment the development of Northeast India, several challenges persist. The foremost roadblock is the current downslide in the India-US relationship due to the US imposition of tariffs. Trade wars can erode decades of progress in the relationship and negatively impact the US's strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific framework involving India, potentially stalling development plans in the Northeast before they even begin. Furthermore, even if bilateral bonhomie is restored, a substantial gap exists between the US's Indo-Pacific rhetoric and actual tangible plans for the Northeast. This region also suffers from numerous internal security challenges emanating from ethnic conflict, insurgency, drug trafficking, alongside instability in Myanmar, and difficult political relationships with Bangladesh – all of which deter foreign investment and risk project completion.
The US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific can serve as a lens for greater involvement in addressing the connectivity gaps of India’s Northeast. However, for such engagement to materialise, the US must take the lead in resolving the current trade impasse and adopt a more specific strategy for the Northeast with tangible outcomes beyond its broader Indo-Pacific strategic framework.
Biplab Debnath is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, Tripura University, Agartala.
The views expressed above belong to the author(s). ORF research and analyses now available on Telegram! Click here to access our curated content — blogs, longforms and interviews.
Biplab Debnath is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, Tripura University, Agartala. With a Master's and a PhD from the School of ...
Read More +
PREV
