India could help SE Asia: Analyst<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Despite being located in a separate geographic
\nregion, India can play a positive role in maintaining peace and
\nsecurity in Southeast Asia, a visiting Indian academic said
\nyesterday.<\/p>\n
Professor of Southeast Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru
\nUniversity in New Delhi, Baladas Ghoshal, acknowledged that
\nrelations between India and its neighbors in Southeast Asia,
\nparticularly members of the Association of Southeast Asian
\nNations (ASEAN), had declined during the past two decades.<\/p>\n
\"I did feel that India also did not do enough to cultivate
\nthis region, and similarly Southeast Asia did not respond very
\nfavorably at that point of time,\" he said of the 1970s and 1980s.<\/p>\n
The conflicting claims to sovereignty over the Spratly islands
\nand the diplomatic row between Singapore and the Philippines have
\nrecently threatened to destabilize the region.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International
\nStudies, Ghoshal said that in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s
\nrelations between India and Southeast Asia had been very close.
\nThe Bandung Conference in 1955 was one example of the mutual
\nsupport which existed at that time, he said.<\/p>\n
\"I think the '70s and '80s was a period when India was a
\nlittle bit aloof,\" he said.<\/p>\n
According to Ghoshal, the neglect came about as a result of
\nthe world situation combined with domestic matters that prompted
\nIndia to concentrate heavily on its internal security.<\/p>\n
The situation is changing, he said.<\/p>\n
Ghoshal said South and Southeast Asia were no longer two
\nindependent systems but were now \"closely inter-linked.\"<\/p>\n
\"India's presence in forums like the ASEAN Regional Forum
\n(ARF) would be a positive factor and contribute to a better
\nunderstanding of cooperative security,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The ARF combines the members of ASEAN -- Brunei, Indonesia,
\nMalaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand -- and the
\nUnited States, Canada, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea,
\nAustralia, the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New
\nGuinea and Laos.(mds)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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