Narendra Modi is trying his best to ensure the Joko is on China, remarked a wag, referring to the charm offensive launched by the Indian Prime Minister vis-à-vis President Joko Widodo of Indonesia on the first leg of his three-nation tour of South East Asia. The allusion was to the concerted effort by New Delhi, driven by Narendra Modi’s indefatigable zeal to ensure that India is never again in a position where it has to play geopolitical catch-up, to ensure that China’s barely concealed expansionist designs and propensity to bully its way through in relations with other nations is kept in check.
Apart from indulging in a bit of kite-flying, literally, with President Widodo in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Wednesday, Modi ensured that India and Indonesia, which has its own concerns regarding Beijing’s activities in the Malacca Straits and the South China Sea, signed off on a deal to develop Sabang, located on the tip of the island of Sumatra, as a deep-water port by the navies of the two countries. A strategic port at the mouth of the Malacca Straits and intensifying defence and maritime ties between India and Indonesia augur well as a counter-balance to China’s expanding footprint in the region.