Session 6.1
East & Southeast Asia's engagement with an evolving Indo-Pacific region.
Chair: Dr Nanda Kishor
Dr Jojin John
India-Japan Relations: Mapping the Shared Indo-Pacific Agenda
India-Japan relations have transformed over the last decades to become the global strategic partnership. Structural factors characterised by the change in regional balance of power in Asia with the rise of China is the key factor that has been driving the bilateral relations and has been pronounced more clearly in the maritime domain with the shared agenda of a free and open Indo-Pacific. India and Japan so far have been successful in jointly shaping the narrative of the Indo-Pacific on the back of an assertive China through bilateral, minilateral and multilateral alignments. However, a challenge going forward would be in managing the differences that emerge from their diverging visions of international order-India’s multipolarity and Japan’s US-led liberal international order and contradictions in the India -US relations.
Vignesh Ram
ASEAN Multilateralism and East Asian Regionalism in an Indo-Pacific Context
East Asia remains a key region within the Indo-Pacific geopolitical landscape. Security challenges in the region have often highlighted the need to develop complex mechanisms to enable dialogue and discussion among stakeholders. One unique development in the regional landscape of East Asia has been the development of muti-faceted and multi-dimensional multilateral processes centred on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The evolution of regional institutions in East Asia has been often overshadowed by a lack of trust and geopolitical manoeuvring from regional countries. Historical animosities among states also remain a major challenge. In this process the development of ASEAN institutional frameworks in the areas of trade, security and diplomacy including the wider East Asian region has developed interesting cooperative structures and diplomatic channels for regional countries. The paper will discuss the role of ASEAN centric multilateralism in East Asia and its role in the wider security and economic frameworks within the Indo-Pacific region. It will also analyse the impact of multilateralism on the culture of negotiations and cooperation in East Asia. Finally, the paper will try to assess a reimagination of East Asian geopolitics through the Indo-Pacific regional lens and the possible outcomes in the emerging regional security landscape.
Priyanka Yadav
India- South Korea Ties in Indo-Pacific: Multilateralism or Strategic Necessity?
Both the Republic of Korea and India have been facing serious challenges from China’s rise and increasingly assertive stance in the Indo-Pacific region. In response, India and South Korea have adopted regional policy strategies like the Act East Policy and the New Southern Policy, respectively, which has seen them grow increasingly closer bilaterally. Whilst India remains reticent to engage with South Korea in a multilateral setting, South Korea has been treading on a path of engaging in multilateralism with other regional powers through vaccine diplomacy, climate change, and infrastructure building in the region. Nonetheless, in the emerging contested Indo-Pacific region, Korea and India are moving toward a security collaboration in the backdrop of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. The Indo-Pacific policy strategies of both South Korea and India have been led in realistic aspects while keeping the door open for engaging multilateralism within the QUAD and other smaller regional powers. This emerging multilateral geopolitical alignment has arisen to maintain the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific region. This paper looks at the question of how nations like India and South Korea have enhanced their strategic posture in the Indo-Pacific region. It also raises the question of whether both countries are engaging only through strategic necessity or if they are willing to build a more enduring bilateral or multilateral partnership in the region.
Himadree Sonowal
Theorising the Evolution of ASEAN in the Emerging Indo-Pacific Region
The formation of Associations of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was originally motivated by political and economic concerns and to forge diplomatic relations among the Southeast Asian countries. Through continuous interaction, ASEAN has been the centre of maintaining diplomatic relations among its members that were earlier overshadowed by colonialism. Despite the comparatively small military and economic capability of member countries, ASEAN is commonly recognised as the fulcrum of the Indo-Pacific region. It lies at the intersection of the Indian and the Pacific Oceans, making it face greater challenges to the principles of the rule of law and freedom of navigation. Currently, ASEAN has evolved from an economic-political organisation to a kind of organisation with a “community” vision that aims to ensure political, socio-cultural and economic goals. The members of the ASEAN have adopted a distinct vision of the outlook of Indo Pacific, which signifies ASEAN’s centrality in the region. This paper will assess the evolving nature of ASEAN as an organisation and will inquire how socio-political and economic policy framing is changing the characteristics of ASEAN in the Indo-Pacific region? The primary focus of the research will be to theorise the evolving nature of ASEAN as western origin theories have faced several challenges in explaining the emerging situation in Indo-Pacific.