After the successful visit by Indian Army Chief of Staff (COAS) Gen MM Naravane to Saudi Arabia, on Monday (December 28) the COAS held extensive talks with the top military brass of South Korea during a three-day visit.
This was also the first-ever visit by a head of the Indian Army to South Korea amid Gen Naravane’s visit to South Korea came in the midst of growing global concerns over China’s renewed military offensive in the South China Sea.
Just as Saudi Arabia is the most important Islamic nation in the Middle East, South Korea is the most important East Asian country after Japan and India is looking to further deepen strategic ties amid China’s military muscle-flexing in the region.
In Seoul, Gen Naravane held discussion with Minister of National Defence Suh Wook, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Won In Choul and Minister of Defence Acquisition Planning Administration Gang Eun Ho.
The talks were very specific and it was all about how to further strengthen strategic and defence cooperation between the countries. India and South Korea have already signed a naval logistics sharing pact and have formulated a road map for joint production and research for military systems during a high-level visit by defence minister Rajnath Singh to Seoul in 2019.
The graph of defence and security ties between India and South Korea have been on an upswing in the last ten years and South Korea also expedited the delivery of K-9 ‘Vajra’ self-propelled guns in India as tension with China started to escalate.
South Korea has become a major supplier of weapons platforms for India and now both nations looking at a huge opportunity to expand cooperation in the field of manufacturing equipment relating to aeronautics, shipbuilding, electronics and missile technologies.
Due to its geostrategic location and share border with a hostile neighbour North Korea, South Korea was forced to maintain a robust military and is considered one of the most professional forces in the world and also has a lot of operational experience as it frequently conducts military exercise with US troops in that region.
The South Korean military is always on a very high level of readiness due to the unpredictability of North Korea which is quite similar to Pakistan which violates ceasefire at the Line of Actual Control on regular bases.
Military planners in New Delhi now plan to gain bilateral military cooperation and exchanges of ideas to further prepare our military in case of any sudden hostilities and ensure our level of readiness gives the enemy a moment of pause.
For South Korea, the major concern is increasing Chinese hegemony in the South China Sea and the security of sea lines of communication. India also has the same concern with regards to the growing influence of China in the Indian Ocean region.
As per some defence experts, this visit by the COAS to South Korea could lead to the Asian country to participate in major military exercises like the Malabar Naval exercise in the near future to further interoperability.
Gen Naravane began his engagements by first visiting the country’s war memorial and national cemetery in Seoul where he paid tributes to the fallen heroes.
“During the first-ever visit of an Indian Army COAS to the Republic of Korea, General MM Naravane COAS interacted with Minister of National Defence, His Excellency Suh Wook and discussed issues of mutual interest and defence cooperation,” the Army said in a tweet.
The Army Chief will also visit the Korea Combat Training Centre in Gangwon province and Agency Defence Development (ADD) facility at Daejeon.
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi the level of ‘strategic partnership’ has grown exponentailly after his visit to Seoul in 2015.
This is the third importnat visit by India’s COAS. Last month Naravane travelled to Nepal on a three-day visit that had significant diplomatic overtones which can now be seen at the ground level.
The Army Chief has also accompanied Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla when they travelled to Myanmar during which India decided to supply an attack submarine to the Myanmar Navy and further deepen military and defence ties.
Also, Indian and Vietnamese Navy on Sunday concluded the two-day passage exercise in the South China Sea called the “Passage Exercise or PASSEX.
In the last few months, India has given more momentum to its look East policy to counter China and its string of pearls strategy.