Maritime outreach as part of India’s ‘Act East’ policy

Abstract

ABSTRACTIndia’s rising engagement with the East is prominent feature of its rising maritime character inherited from its rich maritime culture. This falls in accordance with India’s strategic objectives which drive India’s engagements with the region. First, is to achieve significant reach in the Northeast Indian Ocean. Second, is to assume a greater strategic role in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean. The future of regional security architecture will be characterised by mutual understanding of the circumstantial and structural roots of the gap between expectations of regional players, ASEAN community in particular and India’s capability. Thus, India’s maritime Act East can be sensed as its desire to protect India’s national interest in newly established strategic geography of Indo-Pacific. The article deliberates upon the geo-political significance of Southeast Asia in the context of Indian foreign policy. This paper analyses India’s economic, political and security objectives in a larger framework of evolving regional dynamics. The article has also touched India’s two-pronged strategy of dealing with this region at bilateral as well as multilateral level. This will help to understand India’s own move to embrace Southeast Asia which was once seen as an economic compulsion and today matured to a level of strategic partnership.