Building Bridges for
Peace and
Regional Cooperation - India
and it’s East Asian Neighbours
-
Smt. Sushma Swaraj
1. Mr Chairman,
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my contention and belief, that there is no need to
build new bridges since they already exist— we have only to rebuild them, mend
the damaged parts and restore old links modified by contemporary realities. The
foundations of the old bridge are very strong. It is only the architecture of
cooperation and progress that needs to be reconstructed and modernised.
2. There is an
erroneous impression that India became interested in its Eastern neighbourhood
only as late as ‘90s. It has always figured high in our national priorities
though economic and political realities defined the limits of their growth.
Under, Pandit Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, India engaged with East Asia
under his grand, though somewhat utopian, vision of “Asiatic Federation of
Nations”. The Asian Relations Conference held in New Delhi in 1947 was the
earliest attempt by India to engage East Asia. Nehru along with Indonesian
President Sukarno took the lead to assert Asian identity which later manifested
in the “Bandung Spirit” of 1955.
3. It is true that
India’s Look East Policy acquired a major traction only after 1992. End of the
cold war, India liberalizing its economy, revolution in informatics, economic
rise of Pacific Rim countries all catalyzed the phenomenon in 1992.
4. We are on the
eve of observing the 20th anniversary of a
reorientation in our foreign policy focus. If a precise date has to be set for
its formalization we will obviously have to begin with the India ASEAN sectoral
dialogue partnership in 1991. In 1994 Prime Minister Narasimha Rao during his
visit to Singapore outlined a significant
reorientation of India’s foreign policy when he spoke about “Look East”
. Since then the broad contours of a Look East Policy have fallen in place and
gradually crystallised. Full dialogue partnership and joining the ASEAN
regional Forum in 1996, the start of annual ASEAN India summit meetings in
2002, the conclusion in 2004 of a “partnership for Peace, Progress and Shared
Prosperity” are only some of the milestones and others can also be identified
and named.
5. This policy has
had all the characteristics of bipartisanship which is one of the strengths of
Indian democracy and the Indian political system when it addresses central
issues of national importance. It is in that spirit that I make these remarks
and review the past two decades to look ahead about how many of us in India see
Southeast Asia, East Asia and the wider world. My approach is not to conduct a
post mortem or a pathological examination of these past 20 years. Obviously
over that span of time from certain angles the glass will look half empty. From
others it will look half full. Whether hall empty or half full is a judgment
for historians and specialists to make and it is not my intention to embark on
a critique of one or the other actors responsible. My party has also been in
power during the 20-year period and as such we are equally liable for a half
empty or a half full glass.
6. The spirit of
my remarks, therefore, is in terms of understanding the new structures that
have emerged over these past 20 years and what further evolution and structural
changes we need to gear ourselves up for in the next decade. The broad
coincidence between the end of the Cold War, the breakup of the Soviet Union,
the emergence of a period of unipolarity in world politics and the opening up of the Indian economy and
India’s Look East Policy is well known and does not need to be reiterated or
elaborated. I will leave it for historians to evaluate in what manner and to
what extent 9/11 and the decade of war against terror expedited the erosion of
the structures of unipolarity. It is nevertheless clear that over the next
decade our Look East Policy and further changes in the Indian economy will take
place in an environment which would be in considerable if not complete contrast
to a unipolar universe.
7. A key
imperative of Indian foreign policy has been to secure an environment in which
we can face upto the central challenges of nation building. This includes
addressing the persistence of mass poverty in India, substantially upgrading
our administrative delivery systems and infrastructure not just to sustain a
high rate of economic growth but also to improve substantially access to
education and health services. A continued integration with the world economy
is also essential for us to achieve as much as possible in the attainment of these
national development goals in as short a time span as possible. At the same
time we remain cognizant of both the large size of our country and the fact
that its correspondingly large and growing economy is our real strength.
8. In the context
of this foreground let me come to how we see India and Southeast Asia and India
and East Asia engage in the future. Next year we will be observing the
anniversary of 20 years of the Indo-ASEAN Dialogue Partnership. In this
20-years span trade between India and ASEAN has substantially increased. There
have been at the same time purposeful and important initiatives with regard to
investment.
9. We recognise
that in the construction of the edifice of the Look East Policy in which our
relations with ASEAN are a central pillar, the first brick was laid in
Singapore. The conclusion of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement
(CECA) in 2005 is the most obvious and visible sign of this engagement. The
CECA treaty system has worked well and it has led to similar agreement with
Malaysia, Japan etc and that we are at the threshold of a more comprehensive
agreement with all the ASEAN countries to expand the FTA in goods which has
already been concluded between India and ASEAN to areas of investment and
services.
10. The CECA with
Singapore followed a Defence Cooperation Agreement which had been concluded
earlier. An over view would suggest a broadly similar framework now evolving on
the larger canvas as India is now a part of the East Asia Summit process and
equally a member of the ADMM+ mechanism. We recognise the importance of growing
economic and financial integration proceeding apace with greater understanding
and appreciation of each other’s
strategic concerns.
11. A Look East
policy or an integrated South East and East Asia Policy necessarily requires a
maritime perspective of and from India. In cartographic terms, we need to look
at ourselves not as if we are only looking down from the Himalayas to the
Indian Ocean but rather down from the peninsula towards the Himalayas. Such a
cartographic inversion is by no means easy. We cannot disregard our continental
compulsions whether on the North West, on the North or in the North East.
Nevertheless we have to balance these compulsions with a maritime perspective
in which our southern peninsula equally becomes the heart and mind of our
foreign policy. I would like to imagine
that this maritime perspective is now embedded in our foreign policy thinking.
I will however readily grant the point to a sceptic that it needs to be even
more deeply embedded.
12. A maritime
perspective necessarily means sea power but I do not imply by this just the
need for a strong Navy. It is rather a
web of economic, commercial and political ties with the countries in Southeast
Asia and North Asia as the wider pacific community that we have to reach out
to. This perspective in fact means also
returning to our roots in ancient maritime history – the Mauryas, the Chalukyas, the Cholas and other kingdoms
and dynasties who were flourishing maritime entities. The erosion of this
maritime perspective was a relatively late development from the 17th century onwards. Certainly it was only in the
19th and 20th century that the maritime perspective became
entirely a victim of our continental compulsions. It is my view and conviction
that in the next decade or two we will see a full flowering of this maritime
perspective in India with its attendant scholarship and also retrieving from
the annals of history our ancient and historical links with the countries of Southeast
Asia and beyond.
13. It has become a
truism almost to speak about the shift of power to Asia. I doubt that anyone
would seriously question the fact of this seismic shift or that its main driver
has been the rapid economic growth in China, and in the tiger economies of
southeast Asia and now for the past decade rapid growth in the Indian economy.
I would however like to dwell on what is happening within Asia even as this
overall shift of economic, political and financial power takes place from the west
to the east. Evidently there is a reconfiguration within Asia also underway and
we have to see and juxtapose south, southeast, north and northeast Asia.
14. China and India
are both ancient civilizations and with developed bodies of thought. Their civilizational
interface has been relatively benign through a long history barring the second
half of the 20th century. It would be fanciful to make too much
of the coincidence that much of this latter period overlaps entirely with the
cold war or to hope that with the end of the cold war itself and the beginning
of a India China dialogue that the process of change is inevitably going to be
unidirectional and positive. From 1989 we have seen a series of moves at
stabilising and improving our bilateral relations. Nevertheless China’s rapid
economic growth and the consequential growth of its military power, the
complexities of its polity and society make for a combination which will
require very careful handling and consideration. This is not just for India but
perhaps for all its neighbours and all powers that interface with China. In the case of the India China interface the
problem is more complex since that interface comprises both a very direct
maritime and also continental dimension. Notwithstanding our benign engagement
over the centuries, the second half of the 20th century casts a very long shadow. However,
what one also discerns are positive possibilities that emerge from the maritime
interface, in its widest possible sense- economic, political, cultural and
religious, between India and China as these offer grounds for deepening and
strengthening our bilateral relations. This process will reduce the relative
weightage of the considerable intractability of our continental interface. The
fact that we are together in important groupings such as the East Asia Summit
or the ADMM+ mechanisms is itself a very important positive development. In
this perspective a continued expansion of the China India economic relationship
and expansion in cultural, scholarly and people to people ties along with a
candid political relationship are necessary for difficulties can reasonably be
expected from time to time.
15. I had the
occasion to engage with US Secretary of State Mrs Hillary Clinton during her
visit to my country in June this year. During our extensive discussions at my
residence, we talked about India’s emerging role in the Asia and the focus
naturally turned towards East and South East Asia. Emphasising that it was the
Bharatiya Janata Party that reshaped India’s foreign policy priorities during
its rule under the leadership of Shri Atal Bihari Bihari Vajpayee, I said the
time had now come not only to “Look East” but “Act East”. It was most
heartening to find the US Secterary of State incorporate many of the points we
discussed in the course of her public lecture in Chennai a couple of days
later. In fact, Mrs Clinton articulated the issues so succinctly and powerfully
that I believe it merits to be recalled in the context of today’s lecture.
16. This is what Mrs
Clinton had to say, and I quote: “There are big questions for us to
consider. Will this region adopt basic rules of the road or rules of the sea to
mobilise strategic and economic cooperation and manage disagreements? Will it
build the regional architecture of institutions and arrangements to enforce
international norms on security, trade, rule of law, human rights, and
accountable governance? Through its Look East policy, India is poised to
help lead toward the answers to these questions.”
“Ultimately,
if we want to address, manage, or solve some of the most pressing issues of the
21st century, India, China, and the United States will have to coordinate our
efforts.
In all of
these areas, India’s leadership will help to shape positively the future of
the Asia Pacific. That’s why the United States supports India’s Look East
policy, and we encourage India not just to Look East, but to Engage East and
Act East as well.”
17. Now coming to
North East Asia, my contention is that with Japan and South Korea- we envisage
a future in which India’s young labour force, large market offer major
opportunities for investment. The future then is to construct a financial and
investment corridor between North East and South Asia. The long term logic to
this has been discernible for some time; however the tragic Earthquake and
Tsunami in Japan have catalysed this process further. The challenge for India
is to construct legal and financial regimes to provide a more enabling
environment to encourage investment from Japan and Korea in manufacturing in
India.
18. In both these
sets of relationships a vital role will be played by ASEAN: First as a bridge
and a fulcrum between South Asia and North and North East Asia. Secondly, and
equally importantly, as a political and
economic association of over 500 Million people with strong cultural and
historical links with India.
19. I mentioned
earlier that it is a truism now to speak of a shift of power to Asia. But the
history of power and of the diplomacy behind shifts of power caution us that
conflict and power go together. The shift of power to Europe in the 19th
and 20th century saw Europe torn apart by forces its political system could not
either comprehend or accommodate. We need to take these cautionary principles
seriously as we address issues of regional and trans-regional architectures. I
say this because we are situated in societies which are witnessing social and
economic change of a magnitude that is truly unprecedented.
Compressed in the space of a generation we have seen change which
unfolded over twice or thrice that time span in Europe in the 19th century.
20. How we
address this change internally in our countries will determine the
externalities of Asia in the next 20 to 30 years. Our environment will,
therefore, be one in which there are two major forces at play: A global shift
of greater economic, political and military power to Asia; and societies
undergoing tremendous internal social change. We need to recognize this
frontally and see how we equip ourselves to address the issues that arise.
There are of course efforts underway in this direction. It is for good reason
that the term regional architecture has become part of our daily lexicon. The
East Asia Summit Process and the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ forum being expanded
to include 6 other countries are major institutional and political initiatives
which we support. Nevertheless these architectures are constructed by diplomats
and we should therefore recognise not just their great
utility but also their limitations.
21. In India in the
past 20 years we have seen major changes in the fabric of our society and
societal values. As a political figure I eat, live and breathe this change
daily and therefore can intuitively understand it. It is in this
context that I feel that the diplomatic and political institutions
must be further strengthened by consciously embedding in them greater people to
people interaction. That is the best safeguard we will have to the prevention
of conflict and mis-understandings. People to people interaction are more
than tourism. If that is so then it would be fair to say that such exchanges
have lagged behind the economic and financial integration that has taken place
between India and East Asia. Even at an intellectual level knowledge in India
about South East Asia is limited. Perhaps it is the same in South East Asia
about India. These gaps need to be addressed in educational curricula and
institutions. There must be more exchanges between students and teachers. A
lesson we must learn from post war Europe is that people level exchanges are
the best foundation for any diplomatic architecture. I believe that this should
be applied as an integral part of the East Asia Summit process and the earlier
we do so the better it would be for all the constituent countries.
22. I will conclude
with two points which I feel have a special place in the India South East Asia
interface. Myanmar and the North Eastern States of India are together the
bridge between South and South East Asia. That bridge needs special focus and
concerted attention. It is a vital strategic lynchpin which can transform
our economies. India and ASEAN together have the means and the capacities
to face up to this challenge. We must find the political will to do so. 2012 is
a special year in the history of the ASEAN India interface. It will
provide a suitable platform to bring this bridge to the centre of our radars.
23. India and ASEAN
if seen as independent entities are giant conglomerations of people. Yet
looking only at the overall entity can obscure or blur important facets of both
entities. Within ASEAN as within India different regions are at different
stages of development and may have special priorities. Trade,
financial flows and investment inevitably will have a centre space in our interaction.
But in this process we do need also to keep the requirements of our North
Eastern States as indeed of Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Here the scope
of project cooperation is immense as we can harness our larger
complementarities in areas of skills development, tourism and other services .
I do hope that this aspect is kept in view by all the Governments
concerned and initiatives such as the Ganga Mekong Cooperation are continuously
strengthened.
24. Ladies and
Gentlemen, in our Parliament I represent Vidisha a constituency
named after an ancient town which is its headquarters. Vidisha has been
for at least 2500 years in the midst of trunk routes through which trade, ideas
and people moved between India and West and East Asia. In the second century BC
a Greek Ambassador by name Heliodorus to the Monarch in Vidisha raised
a column to propitiate the God Vishnu. This column still stands and
reminds us that cross cultural interactions and fusion is by no means a
preserve only of our age. Not far
from Vidisha town is the very important historical site of Sanchi where
the Emperor Ashoka commissioned work on a great Stupa which still stands.
Finally
I cannot therefore but end with reflecting on the ancient ties between India
and South East Asia: Our heritage is shared to a far greater extant than is now
generally known and we must encourage greater scholarly attention on that
history. Again 2012 as a commemorative year is the platform to launch such
studies. We need only to reflect on the name of Singapore to evoke that
past- as indeed think of names such as Champa, SriVijaya, Nalanda, and so on.
The study of the past is not just an academic indulgence but in fact a vital
component of the entire enterprise to construct architecture of cooperation and
progress between India and South East Asia.
-
Text of Public Lecture by Mrs Sushma
Swaraj ,
Hon’ble Leader of
Opposition in Lok Sabha , India ,
on 14 September 2011 at Institute
of South Asian Studies, Singapore
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