India to be ASEAN dialog partner<\/p>\n
By V. Anjaiah<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): In the fifth summit of ASEAN in Bangkok in
\nDecember 1995 leaders of the grouping discussed a proposal by
\nSingapore Prime Minister Go Chok Tong to enhance India's present
\nASEAN sectoral partner status to full dialog partner.<\/p>\n
Though the seven-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations
\nhas not formally announced the decision, the grouping has already
\nsent a letter to New Delhi in this regard and India has welcomed
\nthe ASEAN move.<\/p>\n
\"There is a positive improvement... we are informed that we
\nare going to be a full dialog partner of the ASEAN,\" said India's
\nForeign Minister Pranab Mukherjee during his recent trip to
\nThailand.<\/p>\n
It is understood that Indonesia, which is the next chair of
\nASEAN, will follow up by officially notifying India and other
\ndialog partners.<\/p>\n
An ASEAN endorsement in this matter would be a big boost for
\nthe reformist Rao government, which has adopted a \"Look East\"
\npolicy to improve its ties, which suffered from mutual suspicion
\nduring the Cold War, with Southeast Asia in general and ASEAN in
\nparticular.<\/p>\n
At the height of the Cold War, relations between India and
\nASEAN had their ups and downs, perhaps more downs than ups.<\/p>\n
\"ASEAN frequently saw India as a partner and tool of the
\nSoviet Union, a perception India believes was wrong, while India
\ntended to see ASEAN as another anti-Communist organization
\nsponsored by the U.S. which ASEAN believes was also misleading,\"
\nsaid George Tanham, an American expert on Indian affairs.<\/p>\n
Due to its apprehensions about mighty China with whom it had
\nborder problems, and strong enmity with its neighbor Pakistan,
\nwhich had close security links to superpower U.S., India chose to
\ntake shelter under the Soviet security umbrella. But ASEAN
\nperceived India-Soviet ties in a different light.<\/p>\n
The gap widened when India recognized the pro-Vietnam Heng
\nSamrin government in Cambodia in 1980 which was bitterly opposed
\nby ASEAN. In spite of these foreign policy differences, India was
\nable to maintain bilateral relations with individual countries of
\nASEAN.<\/p>\n
Since the end of the Cold War, India has not only realized its
\nmistake of ignoring the importance and potential of ASEAN but
\nalso has become more mature in relations with Southeast Asia in
\ngeneral and ASEAN in particular.<\/p>\n
Apparently South Block, where the office of India's external
\naffairs ministry is located, is pursuing a two-edged policy: one
\nto develop a formal bond with ASEAN, and the second to have solid
\neconomic and security relations with all member countries of the
\norganization.<\/p>\n
Since his rise to power in 1991, Indian Prime Minister P.V.
\nNarasimha Rao, who saved India from economic chaos through his
\nambitious liberalization policies, has shown a special interest
\nin visiting most of the ASEAN countries and creating personal
\nrapport with ASEAN leaders.<\/p>\n
For example, he visited Indonesia in 1992, Thailand in 1993,
\nSingapore in 1994 and Malaysia in 1995. He utilized every
\nopportunity, whether it be a summit or a UN session, to hold
\nbilateral talks with ASEAN leaders and extended state invitations
\nto his counterparts to visit India.<\/p>\n
He sent his ministers, including Finance Minister Man Mohan
\nSingh, the architect of Indian economic reforms, and Foreign
\nMinister Pranab Mukherjee to the booming region from time to
\ntime.<\/p>\n
\"Never before had an Indian prime minister visited the region
\nin such short intervals. ASEAN countries have taken note of
\nthis,\" commented Thailand Deputy Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan.<\/p>\n
ASEAN, which shares some strategic perceptions with New Delhi,
\naccorded India sectoral dialog partnership status during its 1992
\nSummit in Singapore in recognition of India's efforts to improve
\nties.<\/p>\n
Both India and ASEAN agreed to concentrate on areas of trade,
\ntourism, investment, science and technology. Two years later the
\nASEAN-Indian Joint Sectoral Cooperation Committee was formed in
\nBali to institutionalize India's status in ASEAN.<\/p>\n
A close look at the cooperation between India and ASEAN in the
\nagreed areas reveals that the trade has remained at a low ebb but
\nhas improved slowly in recent years.<\/p>\n
For example, India's exports to ASEAN countries account for
\nonly 16 to 18 percent of its total at present, which is an
\nincrease from about 6 percent in 1992 and 3.5 percent in 1980.
\nIts imports from ASEAN countries were only 5.4 percent during the
\n1992\/1993 period.<\/p>\n
But India's trade with Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia took
\na significant leap in 1995.<\/p>\n
Singapore's total trade with India reached US$2.84 billion in
\n1995, up 29 percent from 1994. Likewise, Thailand's bilateral
\ntrade with India reached $960 million, and Indonesia's $900
\nmillion in 1995, up from $596 million in 1994.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, investment flows, which are key to
\ntrade flows, between India and ASEAN have remained at a minimum.
\nThe remaining areas also followed suit.<\/p>\n
\"The fault may be mutual. What matters more is that there was
\nnot enough substance even in the five identified areas of
\ncooperation to justify procedural acceleration,\" commented The
\nStraits Times, a Singapore daily, in its editorial.<\/p>\n
Yet there is vast scope for improvement in many areas in light
\nof not only economic reforms but the promising market of India's
\n250 million nouveau riche middle class population.<\/p>\n
With a Gross Domestic Product of $1.18 trillion, the Indian
\neconomy has been growing at the same pace as the ASEAN countries'
\naverage growth. And its levels of foreign debt, inflation, budget
\ndeficit and perhaps corruption are lower than China's.<\/p>\n
On the security front, India and ASEAN share a common concern
\nabout ever-mighty China. Given its strength, size and capability,
\nIndia could be the only counterweight to China, a potential
\nhegemonic regional power of Asia which could disrupt the balance
\nof power in Southeast and South Asia regions as well as the
\nIndian Ocean and South China Sea.<\/p>\n
As a full ASEAN dialog partner, India, the world's fifth and
\nAsia's third largest economy, can hold wide ranging talks with
\nthe young Tigers of this dynamic region on political and economic
\nissues.<\/p>\n
It can also participate in the deliberations of the ASEAN
\nPost-Ministerial Conference and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), an
\nincreasingly important regional security gathering.<\/p>\n
However, some ASEAN members have reservations about India's
\nstatus in ASEAN. They fear that ASEAN could be drawn into
\nspecific problems of the Indian subcontinent, which is Asia's
\nlast troubled region, and other South Asian countries like
\nPakistan and Sri Lanka may also seek ASEAN dialog partner status.<\/p>\n
\"ASEAN is looking more towards peace and stability in East
\nAsia rather than in South Asia,\" said Thailand Foreign Minister
\nM.R. Kasem S. Kasemsri while reacting to the reservations about
\nIndia. New Delhi is keen to improve ties with the ASEAN region
\nand does not want to raise any South Asian problems in ARF.<\/p>\n
This was evident when Mukherjee made it clear during his visit
\nto Bangkok that India will not bring the Kashmir issue into ARF
\ndiscussions.<\/p>\n
By granting full dialog partner status to India, ASEAN would
\nnot lose anything. But it would gain a lot in terms of economic
\nopportunities and security matters.<\/p>\n
\"The inclusion of India in the ARF will benefit Southeast
\nAsian countries by securing the Indian Ocean,\" said Prof. Baladas
\nGhosal, an Indian expert on Southeast Asian affairs at India's
\nprestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University, New India.<\/p>\n
Indeed India, in spite of its political turmoil and social
\nills, deserves to be a key player of Asia. For that the ASEAN
\ndecision to grant full dialog partner status to India comes at
\nthe right time.<\/p>",
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