What's new

‘Look West’ meets ‘Look East’ and China shivers?

Big Boss

BANNED
Dec 22, 2011
745
0
727
‘Look West’ meets ‘Look East’ and China shivers?


SBYIndiavisit.jpg


Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in India

B23DC912DFA8C8351C11EEAA8696.jpg


South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in India

Prime-Minister-of-Thailand-Ms.-Yingluck-Shinawatra-with-Dr.-Manmohan-Singh-Visited-INDIA.jpg


Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in India


China’s handle over Asia’s future is in decline, the definitive signs of which are the failure of the six-party talks on N Korea and the Burmese junta’s pro-democracy movement. This is making the ASEAN consider India as a friendlier giant

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak were chief guests at the 2011 and 2010 Republic Day parades at New Delhi while Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was the guest of honour for the 2012 parade.

Is it only a coincidence that for continuous three years India’s chief guests at Republic Day parades have been the heads of states from the eastern hemisphere, specially to the east of India?

Or is it a form of diplomatic thrust to the “Look East” policy which has been gathering cobwebs since 1992 and is currently in desperate need for a new orientation?


The issue is why is India becoming more proactive with its SE Asia policy in particular and ‘Look East’ policy in general? Is China’s rapid rise and its tendency of flexing of its muscles responsible for this? Is this an act of balancing strategies? Are SE Asian states finding India as an option to check Chinese hegemony? Or is it purely driven by economic reasons?

It appears that India’s new emphasis on engaging the ASEAN countries has its impetus from all the above reasons. And, yes, China could be one of them.

It is important to note that along with the economic liberalisation agenda, India had also started putting the Look East agenda on the table during the Prime Minister Narasimha Rao’s regime in the early 1990s. It was not by an accident that both these policies began at the same time. There was a need to develop a new market for Indian goods and also need to establish linkages with other economies and markets both for incoming and outgoing trade. Appreciating the importance of growing energy requirements and the need for gaining access to the natural resources, there was a need to engage reliable partners. More importantly, many of these countries are maritime and have stakes in controlling the sea lanes.

Over the past two decades there have been phases of overdrives and underdrives with India’s Look East policy. Simultaneously, India and ASEAN have also embarked upon various initiatives over the years which are helping development and cooperation in multiple areas. However, there has been some amount of criticism over the emphasis on simply “looking East” and not doing anything about it. It appears that time is now ripe for India to ‘act’ and New Delhi should not lose this opportunity.

Unfortunately, India’s policy influencing circles are peopled by those who either hate China or have excessive love for China.

They tend to either suspect or rationalise each and every Chinese step. It is important for policy makers to stay away from such doves and hawks.


The geopolitical and geostrategic settings of the region are now ripe for India to undertake politico-economic-strategic engagements. Over the years it’s not only China which has succeeded in establishing itself as a major power in the region but many other states (in relative sense) are also showing a quest to ‘rise’ (could be in limited sense).

Today, states in the region are also keen on becoming competent and confident to establish ‘Look West’ policies to serve their specific interests. They understand that states like China and India need them as much as they need them. This is one of the reasons why these states are keen to establish strategic relationships. On the other hand, with six party talks with North Korea not throwing up successful results and Myanmar showing signs of joining the mainstream, they understand that the space of diplomatic leverage for China is slowly shrinking.

The SE Asian countries could be said to have a natural affinity with democratic India. They also value the global power dynamics while engaging India and factor in India’s excellent relations to both the Russia and the US while devising any partnerships with India. Also, there is a commonality of interest in regards to security threats from emerging non-traditional challenges such as terrorism and natural disasters, security of sea lanes of communication, and addressing issues related to piracy. India is keen to improve the connectivity over land, sea and air with various states in East Asia.


Should resurgence in India’s Look East policy together with the Look West policy of ASEAN states be viewed as an India’s answer to China’s ‘string of pearls’ policy? Is India following a strategy to ‘encircle China?’ In pursuit of any such academic debates various views and counterviews could be expressed. What is important for India is to follow an assertive China policy. India also needs to factor in the reality that its SE Asian neighbours would engage India to counterbalance Chinese power. What is important for India is to understand that China has upper hand in its overall projection of military and economic power. India needs to have its priorities well chalked out and not try to match China, gun by gun or aircraft by aircraft.

India needs to use all diplomatic leverages available at its hand. For starters, how about inviting the President of Vietnam as chief guest for next year’s Republic Day parade?


‘Look West’ meets ‘Look East’ and China shivers?
 
the string of pearls has been cut by the MEA. given a choice of a bullying neighbor and a friendly one , you can be sure people will always chose the friendly one.:)
 
However, there has been some amount of criticism over the emphasis on simply “looking East” and not doing anything about it. It appears that time is now ripe for India to ‘act’ and New Delhi should not lose this opportunity.

So why India "Look East" policy for the past 20+ year has been nothing but looking and looking !

Because you will vomit blood when you work with Indians. Poor infrastructure, inefficent government, lazy workers, not getting paid, corruption etc.

In the end even Japan find it better working with China.
 
So why India "Look East" policy for the past 20+ year has been nothing but looking and looking !

Because you will vomit blood when you work with Indians. Poor infrastructure, inefficent government, lazy workers, not getting paid, corruption etc.

In the end even Japan find it better working with China.

Bwahahahaha and i was thinking the title of this thread is stupid.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 2, Members: 0, Guests: 2)


Pakistan Defence Latest Posts

Back
Top Bottom