Signalling through implicature: How India signals in the Indo-Pacific

Abstract

When signalling in the Indo-Pacific, India must manage several contradictory imperatives. Signals of resolve that explicitly frame China as a threat or order challenger can raise tensions with this more powerful neighbour. Yet, given India’s strategic resourcing needs, some indication of resolve is necessary in order to project ‘like-mindedness’ with strategic partners – especially the United States – who seek to counter-balance China. Meanwhile, signals of reassurance to the United States and its allies may read as signals of resolve towards China in and of themselves, and/or lead to rhetorical entrapment into alliance-like relations that erode India’s strategic autonomy. Since signalling is both purposeful and socially contingent, these complexities are reflected in India’s discursive signalling strategy. We argue that India often signals via a mode of indirect speech known as implicature. When states implicate, they convey meaning beyond what is explicitly said, while depriving recipients of the rhetorical material to evidence resolve or reassurance. As a signalling strategy, implicature aims to avoid breaches in India’s distinctive social relationships with China and the United States. Signalling through implicature thus manifests as a mode of social hedging, intended to widen the choices of secondary states in the polarised signalling arena of the Indo-Pacific.