To fulfil Asean’s need for a regional balancing power, India must prove
itself as a credible security and economic partner
This week India and the
ten-member Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) marked their 20
years of partnership with a commemorative summit in New Delhi. The significance
that Asean members are increasingly according India can be gauged from the
presence of the Prime Ministers of Singapore, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Vietnam,
the Presidents of Myanmar and Indonesia and the Vice-President of Philippines
in India for the India-Asean summit. The highlight of the summit was clearly
the conclusion of talks on Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on services and investment
which is expected to increase bilateral trade to $200 billion by 2022 and lead
to talks on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership which also includes
Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand. As Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh underlined, together India and the Asean states “constitute a
community of 1.8 billion people, representing one-fourth of humanity, with a
combined GDP of $3.8 trillion” and therefore “it is only natural that India
should attach the highest priority to its relationship with Asean.”
India was admitted as sectoral
dialogue partner of the Asean in 1992 and went on to become a full-fledged
dialogue partner in 1996. There has been a significant increase in India-Asean
trade from $42 billion in 2008 to $80 billion last year. This trade
relationship will get a further boost with the two signing the FTA on services
and investment. The FTA on goods was signed in 2009 despite some significant
opposition in India and since its implementation last year India has been keen
on expanding trade in services in order to leverage its own strengths. The
relationship is now officially ‘strategic’ with the two sides deciding to
elevate their ties from a mere dialogue partnership.
Despite its historical and
cultural links with South-East Asia, India in its post-Independence foreign
policy largely tended to ignore the region. The structural constraints of the
Cold War proved too formidable despite India’s geographic proximity to the
region. It was the end of the Cold War that really brought this region back to
the forefront of India’s foreign policy horizons. And the then Prime Minister,
P.V. Narasimha Rao, whose contributions are often ignored in Indian foreign
policy discourse, was visionary enough to recognise the importance of engaging
with the world’s most economically dynamic region. Since then, India’s ‘Look
East’ policy, which originated primarily focused on trade and economics, has
now attained a distinct security dimension. As India’s economic linkages with
various countries in the region have become more extensive, demands have grown
for a gradual strengthening of security ties at a time of China’s rapid
ascendance in the global hierarchy.
China is clearly too big and too
powerful to be ignored by the regional states. But the states in China’s
vicinity are now seeking to expand their strategic space by reaching out to
other regional and global powers. Smaller states in the region are now looking
to India to act as a balancer in view of China’s growing influence and a broader
leadership vacuum in the region, while larger states see India as an attractive
engine for regional growth. To live up to its full potential and meet the
region’s expectations, India will have to do a more convincing job of emerging
as a credible strategic partner of the region. India, for its part, would not
only like greater economic integration with the fastest growing region in the
world but would also like to challenge China on its periphery. But India will
have to do much more to emerge as a serious player in the region. After all,
China’s trade with Asean in 2011 was a whopping $363 billion and it remains far
better integrated into the region.
The rupture in China-Asean ties
over the last two years has provided India with a key opening in the region to
underline its credentials as a responsible regional stakeholder. On the one
hand, China’s aggressive pursuit of its territorial claims has aggravated
regional tensions. On the other, despite the Obama administration’s famous
‘pivot’ toward the Asia-Pacific, there are doubts about the ability of
Washington to manage regional tensions effectively. India’s proximity to the
region and its growing capabilities make it a natural partner of most states in
South-East Asia. It is not without significance, that the vision document
released at the summit talks of promoting maritime cooperation and
“strengthening cooperation to ensure maritime security and freedom of
navigation, and safety of sea lanes of communication for unfettered movement of
trade in accordance with international law.” New Delhi has been reiterating its
commitment to not only supporting freedom of navigation and right of passage
but also access to resources in accordance with accepted principles of
international law.
New Delhi needs to assure the
regional states of its reliability not only as an economic and political
partner but also as a security provider. As the regional balance of power in
Asia changes and as the very coherence of the Asean comes under question, there
will be new demands on India. While the past twenty years in India-Asean ties
have been productive, the next twenty years are bound to be more challenging.
And India will have to think more creatively to enhance bilateral and
multilateral ties in this rapidly evolving regional context.
Harsh V. Pant
Business & Investment Opportunities
Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd (SBC) is incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Health care and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN 's area. We are currently changing the platform of www.yourvietnamexpert.com, if any request, please, contact directly Dr Christian SIODMAK, business strategist, owner and CEO of SBC at christian.siodmak@gmail.com. Many thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment