ASEAN in India's Act East Policy

Abstract

India’s “Act East Policy” has been reinvigorated from the “Look East Policy” aiming to cater to the changing relations with the ASEAN countries amidst the growing dominance and aggressiveness of China in the region to protect their sovereignty and territorial integrity and deal with the bigger picture of security issues in Indo-Pacific and India and the ASEAN need to strengthen their ties through India’s “Act Indo-Pacific.” This is particularly essential when China has been aggressively pushing and invading various areas through its policy of territorial expansionism by funding multiple projects of infrastructure, ports and pipelines–railways–roadways and has very conveniently and smartly woven its “string of pearls strategy” in and around the Indian sub-continent and further behaving like a “Neo-Colonial Power.” Therefore, only by strengthening relations and capabilities with the ASEAN nations, along with building strategic partners with eastern powers like Japan, Australia, the US, India aims to be a relevant and important player. At present, the key driving factors of India’s foreign policy are continuity and change, and so, India is not only continuously invigorating its foreign policy but has also decided to “take the bull (China) by its horns” and have had enough of China’s “vicious circle of bullying and arm twisting.” India is also certain to build its Northeastern region which is a connecting point to the ASEAN. This will aid in opening a free flow of goods and services, markets, people-to-people exchanges, and this would inevitably reduce the Chinese influence in this region and also help India to expand its influence in the neighbourhood. In this context, this chapter assesses the ASEAN’s importance in India’s “Act East Policy” and “Act Indo-Pacific” and how the ASEAN’s centrality is essential for India’s Indo-Pacific vision. The chapter also identifies the areas for strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific for India and how, together with the ASEAN, they can face the Chinese maritime aggression. Finally, the chapter looks into an argument that a “US led-balanced coalition of Quad+ countries Axis” is the exigency of the hour.