Venu Menon
Wellington, July 31,2024
Indian President Droupadi Murmu’s scheduled state visit to New Zealand next week focuses attention on India’s Act East Policy and its bearing on the Indo-Pacific region.
India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, in his opening remarks to foreign ministers at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Laos last week, called ASEAN “the cornerstone of [India’s] Act East Policy and the Indo-Pacific vision that was thereafter built on it.”
The minister spoke of the “political, economic and security cooperation with ASEAN [as being] of the utmost priority. So too are people-to-people linkages that we are constantly seeking to expand.”
A working definition of the Act East Policy was provided on the floor of the Indian Parliament last year by then Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan who described it as a policy focused “on the extended neighbourhood in the Indo-Pacific region, with ASEAN as its core.”
The Act East policy objective is to “promote economic cooperation, cultural ties and develop strategic relationships with countries in the Indo-Pacific region through continuous engagement at bilateral, regional and multilateral levels, thereby providing enhanced connectivity in its broadest sense, including political, cultural and people-to-people relations.”
This aligns with the views expressed by then (and current) New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters during his 2020 visit to India.
Peters spoke of New Zealand’s Indo-Pacific policy echoing similar principles. “Like India, we also want to see an Indo-Pacific that is open and inclusive; that is committed to transparency; that respects sovereignty; that adheres to international law; that upholds freedoms of overflight and navigation; where markets are open; and that is grounded in ASEAN centrality.”
ASEAN centrality is at the core of India’s relationship with the bloc. India became a dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1996 and summit-level partner in 2002.This was upgraded into a strategic partnership in 2012. India is also a participant in several regional forums such as the East Asia Summit (EAS).
But whether or not there is an official document enunciating the Act East Policy put out by the Government of India is unclear.
The Act East Policy appears to have evolved from the Look East Policy of the early 1990s. Both are premised on the rise of China and India’s growing international profile.
But in the context of the Indo-Pacific, Act East translates into a maritime strategy that is apt to overlap with the objectives of strategic partnerships such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, also known as Quad, of which India is a part. Other Quad members are Australia, Japan and the United States.
While Look East emphasised economic collaboration with ASEAN member states, Act East tends to prioritise security considerations and managing the regional balance in the Indo-Pacific.
There are clear signs India’s Act East Policy is gaining traction. The increased volatility of the South China Sea (which dominated talks at the recent ASEAN conclave in Laos), EAM Jaishankar’s carefully worded pitch on India’s Act East Policy putting ASEAN at its core, and the timing of Indian President Murmu’s impending state visit to New Zealand all point to India’s vision of its growing geopolitical influence, backed by key maritime trade and strategic partnerships, in the Indo-Pacific region.
Venu Menon is an Indian Newslink reporter based in Wellington
