PM Modi held wide-ranging discussions with Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides in New DelhiThere’s a Youtube video running which promises “Everything You Need To Know About Cyprus In Three Minutes”. And it tells you everything, from the “300 days of sunshine” to skiing down to the Mediterranean.
Of course, it doesn’t tell you about the visit of Nikos Chirstodoulides, President of Cyprus to India, since it just got over. And the website of the External Affairs Ministry proudly lists 14 outcomes. Among the most important:
*The bilateral relationship gets elevated to a strategic partnership
*It lays out a roadmap for defence cooperation
*A joint working group on terrorism
*Also establishes a cyber security dialogue
*Cyprus joins the India-led Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative
The elevation of the relationship to a “strategic partnership” could be a bit of a puzzle given that Cyprus is a small island with limited resources, a population of a little over a million and armed forces numbering about 12,000 personnel.
A strategic partner is one with whom India has agreed to work with jointly, on key strategic projects. With Russia, for instance, it is about civil nuclear energy and military high technology. With France it is about jet engine technology and conventional submarines. With the US it covers everything from high technology to AI, with Taiwan it is about semiconductor chips and so on.
The strategic partnership with Cyprus does not envisage any of these things. So is India diluting the “strategic partnership” benchmark, to the point where today even Cyprus can become one?
That may not be fair to India or Cyprus. The little island lies along the projected path of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), which aims to improve trade and energy flows between South Asia, West Asia and Europe.
With Cyprus emerging as a key player in eastern Mediterranean gas exploration, India is exploring avenues for long-term energy cooperation.
There is of course, another view that the strategic partner label could also be about signalling. This is where the location of Cyprus is important. It is south of Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean and at its shortest point, is separated by 70-km of waterway.
More to the point, northern Cyprus was occupied by Turkey in 1974 and the island has remained divided since then. Thousands were displaced and while there has been no fighting since then, relations remain frozen.
India’s relations with Turkey have seen ups and down. President Erdogan has made nasty references to India with regard to Kashmir. He’s joined chorus with Pakistan in attacking this country and promised them all matter of aid including drones that could be used in terror strikes in India.
It may well be that India has decided to repay Erdogan in his own coin. Maybe not with drones but certainly help with augmenting Cyprus’ cyber combat capabilities, strengthening its small navy and opening the doors of various Indo-Pacific fora.
India will of course deny it is responding to Turkey in its own coin but the current Indian government is not one to take things lying down, from any quarter.