Reet Arora
Christ University, Bangalore
Introduction:
Talking about the current situation across the globe, taking into consideration economic slowdown, the tensions between India & China regarding Line of Actual Control (LAC), and most importantly the ways to recover from this novel Coronavirus Pandemic, are few topics that have become the point of discussion in the countries around the world. But there is one more thing that cannot be missed, its ramifications being innumerable:The LEMOA (Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement).
LEMOA is an agreement between INDIA & U.S. signed on 29 August 2016, which gives access to both the countries to use each other’s logistics especially military logistics, for various purposes on a reimbursable basis. Basically, it covers Port Calls, Joint Exercises, Disaster Relief, Training and Humanitarian Assistance. The objective of this agreement is “REFUELING & REPLENISHMENT”. Also, under this agreement, a mechanism is instituted for book keeping & payments and officials, who will act as nodal points of contact on both the side of the countries.
Benefits to U.S. & India:
Never an agreement has been signed in which even one party is at loss. U.S. operates in a big way in the ASIA-PACIFIC region, and so there occurs no point as such why will the U.S. not get any benefit. Not only this, but THIRD OFFSET STRATEGY of U.S., tactical nuclear weapons and precision-guided conventional munitions are also some factors. But, the major interest of the U.S. lies in this because of the “Crown Jewel” defense technology.
Benefits that India will get is a long list but to name a few important are-
a) Advancement in Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)
b) Acceleration of economic growth
c) Cyber revolution
Leaving this all apart, A STRONGER US-INDIA PARTNERSHIP WILL PROMOTE PEACE, STABILITY, and PROGRESS IN INDIAN OCEAN REGION AND THE WORLD.
LEMOA:
LEMAO required certain agreements that were previously signed. Those are:
LSA- Logistics Support Agreement
CISMOA- Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement. It secures peacetime as well as wartime communications.
BECA- Basic Exchange & Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial cooperation.
LEMOA was signed by the then Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar and his US counterpart, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, in Washington, D.C.
It greatly helped in the operational capacity of the Indian Armed Forces, including in their response to humanitarian crises or disaster relief.
It does not create any obligation on either party to carry out any joint activity. It neither provides for any establishment of any base nor do any headquarter in each other’s countries.
Relations Between U.S. & India:
Whenever the defense system of two countries or more than two countries join hands with each other for a particular purpose, we say the military of these two countries are in cooperation. Moreover, this requires mutual trust among them, more than anything else, because sharing military services with other countries is a difficult task.
The U.S. has made recent efforts to join hands with India with the purpose of expanding trade relationships. In 2019, India – U.S. bilateral trade of goods and services reached $149 billion. Another aspect- the number of Indian students studying in the U.S. in 2019 was 2,00,200 compared to 2008 when it was just 81000. Both countries have been together in many multinational corporations like United Nations G20, International Monetary Fund, World Bank and so on.
Embassy of India in the U.S. is well established at 2107, Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC.
In February 2020, Trump made his first visit to India. Both the Prime ministers of India and the President of the US (Narendra Modi and Donald Trump) talked about the same vision of working together on counter-narcotics and mental health.
Need for Military to Military Cooperation:
Here are some points which will clarify why there is an urge or need to develop or focus more on military cooperation between the countries (not talking only about India and the U.S.)
It boosts the strategic security relationships within the countries and helps each country to have a broader view and lay their emphasis on world health issues as a whole
Imagine a situation wherein no country will help each other, everyone has to survive on their own. Ask yourself WILL IT WORK? No financial help, medical facilities or no trading between the countries.
Reason Behind Lack of Cooperation:
- Attitude
- Feeling of Insecurity
- Egoist
- Will to become the most powerful nation
- Misunderstandings
A VERY GOOD EXAMPLE AT PRESENT- WAR BETWEEN CHINA AND INDIA
Why can’t India and China agree on some basic terms and conditions and resolve the issue?
What is the need to include other countries like the U.S., Bangladesh and Russia into all this?
Why create such a situation and acting as if everything is gonna ruin out when you wake up tomorrow morning with that busted alarm and that too in a situation of this pandemic of the novel coronavirus.
The Global Times is claiming that India entered into Chinese territory illegally and the same is the case with the Indian reporters. Nobody knows the ground reality. We can expect cooperation in militaries among these two countries only when both the countries are ready to sit and talk about the issue and discuss what is actually true. If not, the fight will go on for sure.
Conclusion:
The need for the hour is to understand the reason behind such issues, without going into the deep roots it’s hard to find the solution. However, it will be wrong to conclude that military to military cooperation have not increased in the recent past. Still, there are various loopholes in the system which need to be filled as soon as possible.
“Alone we can do so little;
Helen Keller
together we can do so much.”
REFERENCES:
- https://nammakpsc.com/wp/logistics-exchange-memorandum-of-agreement-lemoa-all-you-need-to-know/
- https://currentaffairs.gktoday.in/india-sign-lemoa-08201635409.html
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09700160308450097?journalCode=rsan20
- http://www.tandfonline.com.library-christuniversity.remotexs.in/toc/tmib20/current
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_China%E2%80%93India_skirmishes#:~:text=The%20Global%20Times%2C%20which%20is,in%20the%20Galwan%20Valley%20region.%22
