Indian Defence Review

The independent India tried to revive and reinforce its engagement with the extended neighbours in the east”¦

The US also stayed longer in sensitive locations like Aceh, where it came under criticism from Indonesian media and commentators for its alleged strategic objectives covered under Tsunami relief operation. India has been careful in avoiding such situations and should do so in future also while participating in multilateral operations of strategic importance. The substance of interaction with these neighbours of course differs in each case depending upon the commonality of concerns and interests.

Criticality of ASEAN

At the level of regional integration and interdependence, engagement with ASEAN is of critical importance to India. India has centuries’ old cultural and civilisational bonds with the ASEAN region. These bonds manifest even today in diverse and varied forms at the level of people to people relations. Strategic perspective was added to these bonds and nursed during the British period. India has to cultivate this strategic perspective without the aura or the stink of imperial and colonial domination.

“¦India not only had to shatter the myth created by vested interests in the region about its expansionist naval development, but also contain adversarial developments in its immediate neighbourhood.

The independent India tried to revive and reinforce its engagement with the extended neighbours in the east; such as by helping Myanmar (then Burma) in 1947-48, fight its internal threats, Indonesia in getting independence by mobilising international support against the Dutch obduracy, and the former Indo-China countries (Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam) secure peace and stability through the implementation of Geneva Accords of 1954. Indian investments also moved towards its eastern neighbours, in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia during the late 1950s and 1960s.  However, these efforts did not take India far due to the Cold war divisions and Asian rivalries. There emerged a possibility of India becoming a dialogue partner of ASEAN in May 1980, but the Cambodian conflict vitiated that opportunity.

India’s ‘Look-East Policy’, initiated during the early 1990s as a part of India’s attempts to cope with the post-Cold War shifts in world and Asian politics, has picked up the threads, lost during the 1950s and 1960s, of seeking intensive engagement with the ASEAN region. The policy was initiated both for economic and strategic considerations. Economically, a liberalising India, in search of trade expansion and investments could not afford to keep away from dynamic ASEAN economies.

Strategically, India not only had to shatter the myth created by vested interests in the region about its expansionist naval development, but also contain adversarial developments in its immediate neighbourhood.

Myanmar immediately became an area of concern for India, partly due to the spill-over of internal instability in the form of support for its northeast insurgents and also because of the growing military presence of China and Pakistan. To address these concerns, radical shift in India’s stance towards Myanmar was introduced with its engagement with the military regime at the cost of its good-will and years of support for the democratic forces. The change in India’s Myanmar policy was the bold and concrete manifestation of its innovative and courageous ‘Look-East Policy’ that was primarily driven by security interests.

The change in Indias Myanmar policy was the bold and concrete manifestation of its innovative and courageous “˜Look-East Policy that was primarily driven by security interests.

Through this policy, India has sought to integrate itself, both economically and strategically with the Southeast Asian region. India became a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1994 and a full dialogue partner in 1995. That year India also became a member of the first regional security forum, the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), setup in the region. Since then India has been deepening its integration with the region, both within ASEAN and out side.

The culmination of India’s integration with ASEAN can be seen in the establishment of ASEAN-India summit in 2002 and India’s participation in the EAS in 2005. Then there is Indian partnership in BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) established in 1997, and in Mekong – Ganga Cooperation Initiative launched in 2000. In all these forums security interests and concerns of the member countries are deliberated upon and appropriate actions are initiated.