Intellectual investment must be India's arc in Ulaanbaatar

Jagannath Panda, Daily Pioneer

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Dialogues are a prelude to building consensus on decisions and forming directives in international relations discourse. States in international relations use dialogue forums to their advantage not only to put forward ideas through national security idioms but also to mark a new beginning in their respective foreign policy objectives. The Ulaanbaatar Dialogue (popularly known as UBD), hosted by Mongolia, is one such dialogue forum in which India must aim to intellectually invest in and take part in to enhance its Northeast Asia outreach.

The UBD is a foreign policy public diplomacy [JB emphasis] peace initiative by the Mongolian Government to debate security issues among experts and scholars in Northeast Asia. Propounded in 2013 by Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, the UBD was officially announced at the Seventh Ministerial Conference of the Community of Democracy in Ulaanbaatar not only to promote peace but also to offer centrality to Mongolia’s outreach in Northeast Asia or Greater Eurasia region. With the completion of its fifth round on June 14-15, 2018, the UBD has emerged as another dialogue forum in Northeast Asia along the lines of Jeju Forum, which is the architecture of the South Korean Government to address Indo-Pacific security and global affairs with special focus on the Korean Peninsula.

Mongolia’s strategic pledge

Considered as Northeast Asia’s Geneva, Ulaanbaatar is emerging fast as a regional security dialogue platform in recent years. Mongolia’s main intent behind initiating the UBD is to create an amicable strategic ambience in Northeast Asia to maintain a strategic balance among all the actors such as China, Russia, Japan, South Korea and North Korea, and the United States.

Mongolia has not only hosted a number of bilateral meetings among the Six-Party Dialogue members that were involved in a few years ago to find a solution to the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, but also hosted the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in September 2015 and ASEM Summit in 2016. For India, this is an opportune forum to participate to advocate Indian interests in Northeast Asia while solidifying relations with Mongolia. Given India’s growing relationship with Mongolia, the UBD should be considered as a strategic platform for open advocacy of foreign policy positioning and participatory frameworks. This will not only strengthen India’s relations with Mongolia but also improve India’s image as a forward-looking power in the region.

Characterising India-Mongolia ties

India shares a content relation with Mongolia on various spectra. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Mongolia in May 2015 brought a new context to India-Mongolia ties, making it the first ever such visit by an Indian Prime Minister. The visit marked a “dawn of a new era” in India-Mongolia relations, where the two sides agreed to enhance bilateral ties from a “Comprehensive Partnership” to a “Strategic Partnership”. The pledge to have a “strategic partnership” cannot be achieved in a vacuum. Both sides must encourage their strategic communities to engage in dialogues and debates that will promote their bilateral relations. The Joint Statement released during Modi’s visit promises to encourage institutional linkages between the two countries. Think-tank interactions, civil society meetings and visits of media personnel to business communities must be encouraged at length to strengthen this much-needed bilateral relationship.

Above this bilateral spectrum, India must have an open spectrum of outreach towards Mongolia if New Delhi envisions having a greater partaking in the Northeast Asian peace architecture. India and Mongolia have agreed to promote the drive for an “open, balanced and inclusive security architecture” in Asia-Pacific. The onus to promote such architecture through bilateral understanding is more on India than Mongolia. Given its strategic positioning between the two big powers — Russia and China — Mongolia would be careful in its foreign policy approach to engage with other powers, including India. Mongolia sees India under the purview of its “third neighbour” policy. That, however, should not discourage India from engaging regionally and consider Mongolia more intently and purposefully as a regional partner. India would require Mongolia’s support in its quest for UN Security Council (UNSC) permanent membership in the future.

A platform for orthodox belief


India must view the UBD as an intellectual strategic exercise forum to strengthen its outreach in Northeast Asia. One of UBD’s prime objectives is to uphold peace and harmony in the region, since Mongolia wants to pursue a neutral and equi-cordial foreign policy towards all the major powers in the region. For India, the aim, therefore, should be to invest intellectually in the UBD by sending more experts and scholars who could possibly advocate India’s interests in Northeast Asia.

Given the geographical distance between India and the Northeast Asian region, New Delhi has not really factored this region as an important constituency in its Act East policy. The time has come for India to have a progressive approach to engage in intellectual debates and discussions that would encourage the countries in the region to realise India’s importance as a power. Northeast Asian security is under transition with a number of developments such as the Donald Trump-Kim Jong-Un meeting in Singapore, inter-Korean summit, Pyeongchang Olympics, and DPRK’s decision to suspend its nuclear and missile tests. In the light of such developments, India must seek fresh opportunities to participate in dialogues and discussions. Given the strategic objections that New Delhi might have to face from China and other countries in the region, participating officially in dialogue forums in North-east Asia may not always be a practical proposition. That, however, should not discourage India from seeking new opportunities and pursuing smart diplomatic measures that would position Indian interests better. Soft-power strategy is an effective tool in diplomacy.

Channelling greater participation

A more purposeful participation in the UBD would only exemplify India’s partaking in other Northeast Asian mainstream security dialogue mechanisms. The UBD in some ways complements the spirit of the Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral forum and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and also complements the South Korean administration’s Northeast Asia Platform for Peace and Cooperation (NAPPC). While India’s participation constitutes an important aspect of the RIC framework, New Delhi’s full membership recently in the SCO equally has strengthened Indian outreach in Central Asia. Under South Korea’s “New Southbound policy”, India has been factored highly in NAPPC. To take advantage of its growing stature as a power, New Delhi should consider getting involved and invest intellectually in the UBD.

South Korea’s NAPPC framework involves the US, Japan, China, Russia, North Korea and Mongolia. India is yet to have any credible dialogue mechanisms or multilateral fora where either DPRK or Mongolia is involved directly. The UBD is a forum where the DPRK has regularly sent its officials and experts to participate. Participating more intensively in the UBD will provide an opportunity for Indian scholars and experts to get accustomed with the mainstream security thinking in Northeast Asia. This is an opportune period for India to expedite further its strategic reach by connecting strongly with Mongolia. That means a multilateral contact with Russia and China under the RIC and SCO, stronger contacts with South Korea and an opportunity to capitalize the relationship with Mongolia will solidify the broader Indian outreach in Northeast Asia.

Capitalising on infrastructure to energy 

India must also ponder over multilateral security dialogue both officially and non-officially. Northeast Asia is currently having a number of economic collaborative infrastructure projects such as Asia Super Grid Network, Greater Tumen Initiative (GTI), and Trans-Railway projects such as the TKR+TSR+TCR+TMGR linkages,in which India must officially aimto participate. This will enhance India’s foothold in the region.

Northeast Asia, which accounts for almost one-fifth of the world economy, is a key unexplored energy-reserve region. Energy infrastructure is an important area which India must aim to explore. Prospects for energy cooperation have been a dominant discussion issue in the UBD. After the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the proposition for renewable energy through the Asian Super Grid (ASG) project is yet to take off. This is one key project that India must aim to capitalise for participation, particularly given India’s membership advantage in bodies like the AIIB, SCO and New Development Bank (earlier BRICS Development Bank). A purposeful participation through these bodies could be foreseen for energy infrastructure development and resource exploration in the region. At a bilateral level, India must seize its opportunity with Mongolia where both sides have forged a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on energy resources cooperation. The fifth UBD had a special session on “Prospects of Future Energy Cooperation” too.

To see from an open spectrum, the UBD may appear as just another dialogue forum in a rapidly changing Indo-Pacific environment where trilateral, quadrilateral and multilateral dialogues have been the order of the day. A smart power strategy must employ different spectrums of engagement. India’s full membership in the SCO should also encourage India to visualise the issue from a wider geopolitical perspective. The time has come to bring a special “north” component to India’s East Asia campaigning. Mongolia would fit appropriately into this new endeavour to which India must nurture with care and constructively.

(The writer is a Fellow and Centre Coordinator for East Asia at Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. He was a speaker at the fifth UBD)