PRIME Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Laos to attend the IndiaASEAN Summit was an important message for allies in the Indo-Pacific region regarding shared interests and common goals. He laid out a ten-point action plan for upgrading relations with the ASEAN member countries, covering technology cooperation, trade, people-to-people ties, education, health, green energy and a focus on the nations of the global south. The visit came in the backdrop of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s visit to Pakistan (a first-in-line visit by any Indian External Affairs Minister in the past nine years) to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit.
In his inaugural address at the ASEAN summit, PM Modi mentioned, “Ten years ago, I announced India’s ‘Act East’ policy. Over the past decade, this initiative has revitalised the historical ties between India and ASEAN countries, infusing them with renewed energy, direction and momentum.
Giving importance to ASEAN centrality, we launched the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative in 2019.” The Modi Government has kept Indo-Pacific as a centrepiece of its foreign policy. It has joined one of the most significant multilateral platforms, Quad with the US, Australia and Japan, and also entered into an economic partnership framework with the US and several countries in Asia under the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.
The Quad, though not a security alliance, is focussed on maintaining a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region. India managed to include several crucial pointers in the Chairman’s Statement during the summit. The statement reaffirmed the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, security, stability, safety, and freedom of navigation in and overflight above the South China Sea.
The summit recognised the need to enhance mutual trust and confidence, exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability and avoid actions that may further complicate the situation. It emphasised the need to pursue peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with the universally recognised principles of international law.
Expectedly a review of the India-ASEAN trade deal by 2025 found a mention in PM Modi’s 10-point plan to enhance cooperation during the ASEAN-India Summit. From New Delhi’s perspective, a key reason for this is the progressive shift in the trade balance in favour of the ASEAN region, coupled with a simultaneous increase in investments from China into the 10-member bloc.
Meanwhile, India did not engage in any bilateral dialogue with the SCO host country, Pakistan. EAM Jaishankar made it clear that bilateral ties could be resumed only after Pakistan stopped exporting crossborder terrorism targeting India. Pakistan’s economy has plummeted and with economic packages, China is bound to make Pakistan a colony in the long run.
India is taking ASEAN seriously in PM Modi’s third term this year. Already before Modi’s Laos visit, he had visited Singapore and Brunei, while the Prime Ministers of Vietnam and Malaysia visited India. On the sidelines of the Laos summit, PM Modi met the new PM of Thailand, where the BIMSTEC Summit is due. A visit by the Philippines President to India is perhaps due, and once the new President of Indonesia takes over, he will be engaged later this year. By more vigorous engagement through the AEP and related avenues, India promises ASEAN a functional partnership with strategic overtones.
