Page 92 - AEI Insights 2018 Vol 4 Issue 1

AEI Insights, Vol 4, Issue 1, 2018

visited Malaysia and Singapore. In Singapore, he remarked, “We will be very happy to have
bilateral arrangement with Singapore, with regard to trade, commerce and economic
cooperation. But if Singapore chooses to join any regional cooperation, we will be happy to
join such a grouping, if other members want India to do so” (Saxena, 1986). Nevertheless,
despite India’s interests, it could not join the ASEAN during the Cold War period. For India
any military pact, such as the one formed by Southeast Asian countries in the form of Southeast
Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) was not detrimental to peace in Asia. On the other hand,
ASEAN countries were not keen to work with India on Non Alignment Movement (NAM),
and some of them were also apprehensive of India’s naval ambitions in the 1980s. New Delhi’s
support for Vietnam following the Cambodian conflict in 1978 etc., further drifted India and
much of Southeast Asia apart. Essentially, compulsions and constraints of the Cold War
politics put India away from Southeast Asia and ‘from being a major champion of Asian
regionalism, India almost became a political and diplomatic non-entity- if not a pariah- in
Southeast Asia by 1980s’ (Acharya, 2017). Though one cannot deny the fact that then prime
minister Rajiv Gandhi had taken several steps to not only normalise the relations with China
and Southeast Asia but also tried to reach out to Japan. However, his attempts were obstructed
by the Cold War politics and limitations of India’s inward looking economy.

Nevertheless, India has always been cognisant of the importance of countries on its eastern
flank. India’s eastern front, which includes Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific, is vital for
India’s deep cultural roots, extended territorial expanse (Andaman and Nicobar Islands),
common land and maritime boundaries, vast sea lanes of communication and growing
economic engagement (Muni and Mun 2012). Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee,
during his Singapore lecture in 2002 highlighted this point. He said: “I speak today on ASEAN
and the Asia-Pacific...This region is one of the focal points of India’s foreign policy, strategic
concerns and economic interests...It is a fundamental fact of geography that India is in the
immediate neighbourhood of Association of Southeast Asian Nations” (ASEAN, 2002).

India-ASEAN Dialogue Partnership

The end of the Cold War brought about several key changes in regional and global politics,
and compelled countries across the world to change their foreign policy priorities to suit the
new global realities. India, after the disintegration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
(USSR), found itself relatively isolated- a reality which compelled India to open-up to other
countries and look for new friends and partners. With the launch of economic reforms in 1991,
India began to look towards its eastern neighbours for trade and economic linkages. With that
objective in mind, the Look East Policy was launched by Rao in 1992. At that point of time,
the main objectives of the Look East Policy were threefold. First: To engage the countries of
the Southeast Asian region. Given the size of the region and the economic potential of the
ASEAN region, it became vital for India to engage these countries. Second: to institutionalise
relations with the countries through the ASEAN mechanism. Third: to carve its own place in
the rapidly rising region amid China’s growing strategic and economic footprints in the region.
Since the initiation of the policy, these points have been the cornerstone of India’s engagement
with the Asia’s most economically dynamic region (Naidu 2004, Pant 2011).

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