India-ASEAN strategic partnership

India-ASEAN strategic partnership

Salman Haider, The Statesman, Asia News Network, Calcutta

At the start, India and ASEAN were no more than distant
cousins. They were friendly enough -- deep-rooted cultural and
historical links were not to be denied. But the Cold War divided
them. Each saw in the other an inclination towards the Cold War
adversary from which it felt itself distant.

Also, in their economic policy, they followed different paths.
ASEAN was early to liberalize, and reaped the benefit of
accelerated growth and a rapidly improving standard of living. By
comparison, India looked like a stick-in-the-mud traditionalist,
lost in a jungle of regulations. It was left behind in the race
and ASEAN looked elsewhere for partners, whether in the countries
of the Pacific Rim or in ASEM with Europe.

India felt excluded from these significant developments at its
doorstep, the more so as its own initiatives in Saarc and the
Indian Ocean did not get very far. Yet, India also saw that
Southeast Asia never ceased to be wary of the Chinese giant
hovering above, and was thus constantly in search of a
counterweight.

It was only at the start of the 1990s that Manmohan Singh's
liberalizing budgets opened new possibilities. Both sides were
quick to respond: India turned away from its westward fixation to
"Look East", and ASEAN gave the needed encouragement. Its
procedural defenses were cautiously lowered: India found itself
accepted as a sectoral dialogue partner, then a full dialogue
partner, part of the ASEAN Regional Forum and the Post
Ministerial Conference, and eventually its head of government was
invited to a Summit with his ASEAN counterparts.

These measured steps have had the effect of bringing India
within ASEAN's consultative circle, so that there is a constantly
expanding web of contact and communication. It cannot yet compare
with the free flowing intra-ASEAN exchanges, so frequent and
informal, but yet a network of personal associations between
leaders and officials helps bind the parties more closely.

As relations mature and advance, the two sides seem ready for
further progress. There is a sense of real potential, and a
strategic dimension to the relationship is discerned and spoken
of. As yet, however, it is not clear what this implies.
Obviously, there is no strategic arrangement of the traditional
type on offer -- alliance and alignment are matters of the past.
Yet, India and ASEAN have complementary strengths and capacities,
and they are developing more structured, long-term exchanges in a
wide number of fields.

In economic matters, the path seems clear enough. Expanded
contact means that they now know much more about how to conduct
business with each other. The governments have cleared the way by
adopting far reaching measures like India's open skies policy for
ASEAN's airlines, and the recent motor rally from India's North-
east to the heart of ASEAN which showed that overland transit
could be the next big thing in the region.

The challenge of refining and reshaping the political
relationship has its own complexities. ASEAN has developed a real
partnership with China, though the huge imbalance in power and
size underlines the need for balancing relationships. Within
Asia, India is an obvious choice.

Yet, there is the risk of friction, for all problems between
India and China are not resolved, and there are differences in
their perception of key areas lying between them like Myanmar.
Yet, all the parties from within and outside the region have a
joint interest in stability and peace, and in suppressing the
scourge of terrorism.

A more active India is now taking its place within the big
power structure that seeks to provide predictability and
reassurance to the entire region. For now, the strategic
partnership need be pitched no higher.

The writer is a former foreign secretary, Government of India.