ACTING EAST, FINALLY?
All these seem to point to India, which has traditionally looked more west and southward, finally taking some real action on the “Act East” policy unveiled in 2014 by Mr Modi as a new, upgraded model of the country’s 1991 “Look East” policy.
“Generally, the region welcomes the involvement of India as a more multipolar Southeast Asia creates more space – strategic and economic – for countries of the region,” veteran former Singapore diplomat Bilahari Kausikan told me.
India’s greater engagement has been a long time coming though – and drawbacks remain.
As long ago as March 2005, Singapore’s then Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong had famously likened Southeast Asia to the fuselage of a new jumbo jet of which one wing would be northeast Asia, and the second wing would be India.
Yet, that expectation has largely been unmet.
Despite ancient trade-based ties and cultural affinities, there have been fundamental differences between Southeast Asia and India on trade in modern times. In essence, Southeast Asia largely embraces free trade while India is a trade sceptic.
One of the biggest and most longstanding complaints of countries doing business with India is that New Delhi is too slow. The ASEAN-China Free Trade Area, for example, is regularly upgraded, while the ASEAN-India Free Trade Area has not been updated in over 10 years. As of 2024, the value of ASEAN’s trade with China was approaching US$1 trillion, while trade with India was around US$107 billion.
“There’s always a sense that Southeast Asia at best comes into the third tier of India’s strategic mental map,” said Dr Sinderpal Singh, a Senior Fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
“Southeast Asian countries feel a bit let down by the kind of pace of economic reform within India,” Dr Singh told me.
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