Anchoring the Bay of Bengal in a Free and Open Indo-Pacific

Introduction For centuries, the Bay of Bengal has been the space for commercial and cultural interactions among its littorals, especially between the eastern seaboard of India and the land of Suvarnabhumi (continental Southeast Asia), and Suvarnadvipa (maritime Southeast Asia) [1] . The ancient ‘Maritime Silk Route’, or the ‘Spice Route’ [2] , was one of the most important sea trading passages that connected the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent with its Southeast Asian neighbours. With the influx of the European powers, competition for building colonies grew. Apart from the British Raj, the French and the Dutch masters also ruled around the Bay. Commerce expanded as the colonial rulers became large exporters of raw materials and agricultural products. As a result, the colonial period intensified inter-Bay connectivity [3] . However, following the First World War, decolonisation and emerging nationalism immersed the Bay littorals. Consequently, the newly independent countries were interested in prioritising their own political and economic agendas, gradually making the Bay a ‘strategic backwater’. Spread across 2,173,000 square km [4] , the Bay of Bengal is now gaining in importance again as part of a strategic maritime space. The Bay’s rich repository of vast hydrocarbon reserves and the vital shipping routes for trade in oil and natural gas passing through this region have transformed this marine space into a geostrategic, geopolitical, and geoeconomic hotspot. As a quest for seamless energy and aspirations of states to fulfil their national interests loom large, the Bay has become a theatre of conflicts and collaborations for its littorals and extraregional actors. Under the circumstances, how to treat the Bay as a common strategic space and an area of resource-sharing between the powers involved remains a crucial point of consideration. Undoubtedly, the huge repository of the Bay’s vital resources has contributed to the regional powers’ ability to influence this area. These changing dynamics are particularly relevant for India and China, whose rising economies are dependent on the steady flow of resources, most importantly oil.