India’s ‘Act-East’ Responses to the Strategic Realities in the Indo-Pacific Region: A Review

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The geopolitical standpoint of India’s foreign policy has focused on soft power dynamics, cultural rejuvenation, and political connection with the diaspora. With the intent to pursue a good neighborhood policy, to promote regional economic cooperation and to revitalize the essence of regionalism India articulated a liberal foreign policy perspective under the guidance of Inder Kumar Gujral during his tenure as Foreign Minister and Prime Minister in 1996-98. The approach gained considerable acceptability and relevance among Gujral successors. Both Vajpayee of the Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP and Manmohan Singh of the Congress Party supported the rationale of the so-called Gujral Doctrine. As the Indian economy began to accelerate, the pursuit of integrating the region received a pragmatic dimension. Regional institutions like the ASEAN (Association of South -East Asian Nations) play a pivotal role in facilitating the development of regional identity in the world’s most economically vibrant region. It was apprehended that incompetence on part of India to cultivate relations with its neighbors would lead to further Chinese penetration to the zone of India’s natural hinterland and traditionally an exclusive sphere of influence. India’s apprehensions about Chinese ingress were so strong that New Delhi actively worked to include Western powers into an observer role in the regional forum of SAARC, when Pakistan and Bangladesh urged for a more formal Chinese role in the subcontinent. The Indian foreign policy establishment emphasized the attributes of building a peaceful periphery rendering greater access to the Indian market through unilateral economic concessions if necessary, and focused on the Indian relevance to make its neighbors feel amicable in their collaboration with India with a view to strengthen India’s strategic links with the neighbors rather than merely protesting to their defense ties with Beijing. This study aims to focus on the relevance of India-ASEAN collaboration in addressing to the strategic realities of the Indo-Pacific region.