India's perspectives on ASEAN and the Asia Pacific Region

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Prime Minister of India

India's relations with Singapore have grown considerably over the last decade, but a vast potential still remains untapped. Singapore has considerable strengths in the old economy and ambitions in the new economy. India has needs in the old economy and some competence in the new economy.

Moving on to a wider Southeast Asian canvas, India's close civilisational links with the region go back over a millennium. Historically, we have been linked by culture and commerce. India, China and regional maritime centers like Singapore played leading roles in the flourishing trade of Asia -- shaping the historical development of this region. The cross-fertilization of human experiences and the spiritual interaction between India and East Asia has left an indelible mark on the regional art, architecture, language and culture.

It is a fundamental fact of geography that India is in the immediate neighborhood of ASEAN. We share land and maritime borders with Myanmar, Indonesia and Thailand. India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal are closer to some ASEAN states than to the Indian mainland. The vital commercial sea lanes between West Asia and South East Asia straddle the Indian mainland and its island territories.

We are conscious that in the first few decades after our independence, we did not attain the full promise of our relationship. This was not a reflection of a lower priority. It was a consequence of the divergences in economic ideology, political outlook and security assumptions much of which the Cold War imposed on us. Fortunately, we have emerged from this straitjacket.

The end of the Cold War removed the hurdles to close India- ASEAN cooperation. India became a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1992, full dialogue partner in 1995, and joined the ASEAN Regional Forum in 1996. Our Dialogue Partnership has been active. Reflective of India's interest in intensifying its engagement with ASEAN, we are in the process of jointly developing an India-ASEAN Vision 2020, as a roadmap to our mutually desired objectives.

The countries in our region are today at the forefront of developing and introducing cutting edge technologies into their economies. We are in the very epicenter of the Knowledge Revolution. This provides us with a major opportunity to overcome our historical disabilities and to compress the time gap between successive levels of development. Each of our countries has achieved expertise and even dominance in certain areas of technology. It is crucial that we should cooperate in exploiting the synergies between us, rather than duplicating capacities or undercutting each other.

The current global economic slowdown should also exhort us to more actively explore avenues for generating and meeting demand on a regional basis, so that we are cushioned against the impact of saturation of external markets. The move. towards greater economic liberalization in the ASEAN Free Trade Area and the ASEAN Investment Area reflects this recognition. India seeks a mutually beneficial partnership in this endeavor.

We recognize the pragmatic logic of pursuing specific socio- economic goals in the region through sub-regional groupings. We therefore, strongly support Mekong-Ganga Cooperation, bringing together Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and India. We are also committed to the Initiative for ASEAN Integration specifically aimed at the four new entrants into ASEAN. We have offered our assistance to the Initiative in the development of a communications network involving highways, railways, river navigation and port facilities.

As home to 1 billion people, India has to be integral to any regional process pertaining to the Asia Pacific. We have a constructive and multi-faceted relationship with every major country of the region. This is also true of India's relations with ASEAN's East Asian neighbors.

The Indian economy is now rapidly integrating into the global mainstream. Our linkages with the major economies of the Asia Pacific are becoming stronger. I believe that this coming together would reinforce development, peace, security and stability in this region. India's belonging to the Asia Pacific community is a geographical fact and a political reality. It does not require formal membership of any regional organization for its recognition or sustenance.

India and ASEAN are now poised to intensify their political and security dialogue to add a new dimension to a mutually beneficial economic and commercial relationship. We grapple with a bewildering array of security threats, of which international terrorism has recently thrust itself dramatically into our consciousness. It has become crystal clear to the international community that terrorism can be tackled and curbed only with a global and comprehensive approach.

But the nature of our Global Village has made it necessary to tackle even non-military threats to security in a comprehensive manner. Poverty and shortages of food and energy threaten the stability societies. Population growth, the rapid spread of diseases like TB and AIDS, environmental degradation and cyber crime are all factors of deep concern. Endemic threats from sea- piracy, transnational crime and narcotics also continue to stalk our region.

Let us also remember that Asia has seven of the 10 most populous countries of the world; the largest standing armies; four declared nuclear weapon states; and several missile producing and exporting states. The civilizational and political diversity of the continent provides additional volatility. On one hand, it has been estimated that in the next 25 years, Asia will account for 57 percent of world GDP. On the other hand, the economic problems which first surfaced in 1997 have tended to recur. The management of the unpredictable behavior of this economy is also a problem with security implications.

The Asia Pacific region has to respond creatively to absorb this change through a web of cooperative arrangements, which would promote this transition in a stable manner.

Ethno-nationalist violence and terrorism fed by extremism are one set of impeding factors, which need to be suppressed and eradicated. Multicultural and pluralist democracies are the most vulnerable to these ills, precisely because terrorists exploit the freedoms which their societies guarantee to the people. It is not surprising that terrorism is supported and sponsored only by undemocratic societies and totalitarian regimes. But because democracies represent the will and determination of their peoples, they have the internal strength and resilience to resist and overcome the scourge of terrorism.

Widening income disparities in the modem incarnation of the digital divide pose the other daunting challenge. Again, it is the democratic processes which can find the internal development responses to the inequities which globalization tends to accentuate in the short-term.

If, therefore, the 21st century is to be the century of Asia, it devolves upon the democracies of our region to take the lead in making it happen.

The article is an excerpt from the Prime Minister's address at The Annual Singapore Lecture 2002 on April 9.