​Periodic reset: on India-ASEAN ties, ‘Act East’ policy  

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Brunei and Singapore last week was part of a deliberate focus on India’s “Act East” policy by the government in its third tenure. Not since 2018, when ASEAN leaders were in India for a summit and the Republic Day parade, has New Delhi reached out to the region in such a short time span. He is expected to travel to Laos for the ASEAN-India summit, the Philippines, and Indonesia, later this year. In addition, New Delhi has laid out the red carpet for the Prime Ministers of Vietnam and Malaysia. The message to reconnect with each of the countries in South East Asia, and even forge new ties, is well considered and overdue. Mr. Modi’s visit was the first bilateral visit by any Indian Prime Minister. This neglect of ties with a country that has strategic ties with the U.S., trade ties with China, and is situated in the middle of ASEAN is telling. While India’s trade with the ASEAN region has doubled in the past decade, it has actually declined with Brunei, with India ramping up its oil imports from Russia since 2022. The two sides do not have a strategic partnership, although the leaders discussed defence and geo-strategic issues, and Mr. Modi took a veiled jab at China. The two sides renewed their space cooperation, which hinges on Brunei hosting an ISRO station, and it remains to be seen whether other discussions on trade, investment and energy cooperation will bear fruit. In Singapore, the spotlight during Mr. Modi’s visit was on semiconductors, given that Singapore is a major player in all parts of the electronics supply chain. As India seeks more technical expertise and investment in rare earths and chip making and Singapore seeks to defray some of the growing land and labour costs of its semiconductor industry, the two could make a perfect fit, also de-risking the process from U.S.-China-Taiwan tensions, American protectionist policies and Chinese predatory practices. This could also correct the drop in Singapore’s FDI levels into India.

Hopes for more intense exchanges in technology, trade and investment can be realised only if the India-ASEAN engagement is more consistent. India’s exit from the ASEAN-led RCEP in 2019 was a blow, and cuts India out of a large regional FTA. While New Delhi has refused to revise the decision despite ASEAN’s entreaties, it must update the 2009 AITIGA and the 2005 CECA with Singapore. India’s commitment to “ASEAN centrality” on all strategic issues in the Indo-Pacific has been warmly received, but it needs to coordinate more closely on geopolitical issues including Myanmar, the South China Sea and Quad engagement. While India’s historical ties with the region date more than a millennium, modern ties need a periodic reset, as governments have carried out in the past with the “Look East” policy (1992) and the Modi government’s Act East policy (2014).