India’s Look East Policy, which was initiated in the early 1990s, has led to key changes in its foreign policy strategies towards East and Southeast Asia. Similarly even with China, India’s relations have witnessed remarkable advancements, particularly in the economic arenas. However, some Chinese scholars remain sceptical about India’s intentions behind pursuing Look East Policy (LEP) and regard it as an anti-Chinese strategy of India to increase influence among Southeast Asian nations by encircling China. However, the scope of this article does not allow to present arguments and counter-arguments on the LEP and China’s reactions to it. On the other hand, it assumes that LEP serves as a ‘game changer’ for India’s foreign policy, particularly, in its relations with certain countries in East and Southeast Asia. Hence, it would present a brief picture of the recent highlights indicating a rising ASEAN-India partnership with an emphasis on transport and connectivity, trade and investment, tourism and sub-regional cooperation (as the focus areas).
Transport and Connectivity
In the discourse of ASEAN-India partnership, transport and connectivity are crucial areas of cooperation. Over the years several efforts have been taken by India and ASEAN to enhance connectivity. According to reports, the Government of India has requested the foreign missions of Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Spain and Italy to help India in building projects in Northeast India. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has already expressed its interest in investing in road and other infrastructural projects in the region. It has been argued that one of the main reasons for a growing Indo-Japan partnership in this field is indicative of their worries about China’s deep-seated and extensive presence in the entire region of East and Southeast Asia. At least eight stretches of Imphal-Jiribam, Imphal-Kohima, Maram-Dimapur, Ukhrul-Tadubi and Aizawl-Tuipang of the National Highways 53, 39, 54, 44, 40 and 60 have been identified by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and JICA for the latter’s possible investment in the region. However, it has to be understood that India’s relations with Japan should not depend on any third country, particularly China; rather, it should be built on its own worthiness. If Japan’s investment in the mentioned and other infrastructural projects materializes, it will help in alleviating some of the deficiencies of Northeast India which are now acting as impediments in creating direct linkages between India’s Northeastern part and Southeast Asia. Apart from inviting investments for enhancing connectivity in the Northeastern part of India, which is a natural gateway of India towards Southeast Asia, India has already started investing in some projects with the aim to connect Southeast Asia and Northeast India.
One of the projects is the Kaladan Multi-modal Transit Transport Project. At present, dredging and widening of Kaladan River are taking place between Sittwe and Paletwa. The 160 km inland waterway transport system is expected to be finished within the next three-four months. The road construction work between Paletwa and Lomasu on the Indian border point has also been started, after some delays. Another 100 km stretch (from Lomasu to Lawngtlai in Mizoram) will be constructed to connect the project with the Indian National Highway 54. The India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway, to be completed by 2016, is another ambitious project undertaken to improve connectivity between these three countries.
Tourism
Besides physical connectivity, promotion of intra-regional tourism is another avenue to boost affiliation. In 2011, ASEAN received 2.71 million Indian visitors; in 2010, the number increased to 2.47 million. In January 2012, ASEAN and India signed a MoU on strengthening tourism cooperation. In further moves to improve intra-regional tourism between India and ASEAN, several popular steps have been taken. Not only India, but ASEAN countries too are keen on improving ‘soft power’ interactions. For instance, Malindo Air from Malaysia has decided to enter into India’s aviation market with regular and direct flights between Tier Two Indian cities such as Trichy and Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. Besides, it has plans to launch flights on various routes including – Mumbai-Kuala Lampur, Ahmadabad-Kuala Lampur, and Delhi-Kuala Lampur – future. In another attempt to promote cross-border tourism, Government of India has revoked the mandatory requirement for Myanmar nationals to access protected area permit to visit Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram. The Ministry of Home Affairs Circular dated 30.12.2010 said that Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland have been excluded from the Protected Area Regime notified under the Foreigners (Protected Areas) Order 1958, initially for a period of one year.
People-to-People Contact
People-to-people contacts are another important and critical area of cooperation. In this regard, several efforts have been made by India to encourage movement of people from Southeast Asia to India. The Ministry of External Affairs promotes flow of people through various schemes. The Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC), Special Commonwealth Assistance for Africa Programme (SCAAP) and the Technical Cooperation Scheme (TCS) of Colombo Plan are avenues through which the Government of India promotes movement of common people, particularly, students and professionals. Besides, under the ASEAN-India Students Exchange Programme, initiated in 2007, India aims to host a minimum of 250 students per year from the ASEAN countries.
At the diplomatic and senior officials level the Delhi Dialogue was established in 2009. Each year, Delhi Dialogue offers an avenue to share thoughts, concerns and optimism in an effort to augment partnership between India and ASEAN; it also brings together a diverse range of people such as policy makers, corporate leaders and academia. To give a further boost to people-to-people contacts at the business level and in an attempt to showcase the potential of Northeast India, the first International Agri-Horti Show was held in Guwahati, Assam, for four days in the second week of January 2014. Delegates and participants from several ASEAN countries as well as Italy, Korea, South Africa, China and the United Kingdom came to participate in the festival.
The Myanmar Factor
For geopolitical reasons, Myanmar has received attention from the Indian policy makers. After the 2010 election as Myanmar has got its first civilian government after a gap of almost five decades, renewed interests could be seen among its neighbours in terms of economic and political partnerships with Myanmar in the background of its gradual opening up to the world. India too has taken a serious note of the latest developments in Myanmar and has offered the country soft loans, investments, aid, grants as well as opportunities for joint ventures on several occasions. India’s second largest IT giant, Infosys has obtained a consultancy project from the Myanmar government, which is expected to assist Myanmar in devising e-governance strategy. However, one must not forget that even before the opening up of Myanmar, India was keen to engage with the Junta government of Myanmar in order to counter-balance China’s overwhelming presence in Myanmar. Other factors like security of Northeast India, connectivity between Northeast India and Southeast Asia also prompted India to befriend Myanmar.
The Role of Sub-Regional Initiatives
Regional and sub-regional cooperation and groupings also play an important role in enhancing India’s relations with other countries in the region. In a meeting of the BCIM (Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar forum), delegates from the countries met in Kolkata to discuss the difficult areas within the sub-region. Strict visa regime followed by India and infrastructural inadequacies were identified as main problems impeding the growth of cooperation within the BCIM. Another sub-regional initiative, BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Multilateral Technical Economic Cooperation), formed in June 1997, deals with fourteen priority sectors of cooperation including trade and investment, energy security, transport and communication, tourism, poverty alleviation, environment and natural disasters, fisheries, counter-terrorism and so on. Till date, three BIMSTEC summits have taken place and the third summit took place in Myanmar in 2014. However, it has often been noticed that due to the paucity of political will, infrastructural deficiencies and several other shortcomings, sub-regional initiatives in South Asia do not produce much positive results or outcomes.
Conclusion
As more than two decades have already passed after the inception of Look East Policy, concrete results are expected in terms of ensuring a better position for India in the ASEAN region and it cannot be denied that India, being an emerging world power is prominent and visible in the region. However, questions still remain in terms of certain issues such as proper utilization of Northeast India in pursuing Look East Policy and China’s influence in ASEAN despite the historical baggage of mistrust and tensions over issues like the South China Sea. Other pertinent issues such as insurgency, infrastructural limitations in areas like transport, energy, industries among others and the lack of peace and security in Northeast India have created many obstacles in utilizing Northeast India as a proper and natural gateway towards Southeast Asia. Hence, it can be said that there are many areas in which India needs to be pragmatic and prompt so that these gaps can be fulfilled.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are personal.
Sampa Kundu, pursuing PhD from the Centre for Indo-Pacific Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her PhD thesis is titled, ‘India and Myanmar in BIMSTEC: Implications for Northeast India’. She is also a Research Assistant at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.
