South China Sea, Rohingya on ASEAN map

South China Sea, Rohingya on ASEAN map

Context

• The maritime dispute over the South China Sea, exodus of the Rohingya citizens of Myanmar into Bangladesh and India, North Korean nuclear posturing and Islamic State-linked terrorism are likely to be the key talking points at the 31st ASEAN summit

What else is on the list?

• Apart from participating in the ASEAN-India and East Asia Summits, in the three-day visit, Mr. Modi would also take part in special celebrations of the 50th anniversary of ASEAN,Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Leaders’ Meeting andASEAN Business and Investment Summit.
• The bilateral meeting with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte with PM Modi and interactions with other ASEAN and East Asia Summit Leaders is also on the cards.

What is the crisis?

• The Rohingya crisis is a human rights crisis with serious humanitarian consequences.
• Large number of Muslim Rohingya have fled Myanmar, many crossing by land into Bangladesh, while others take to the sea to reach Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
• The unfair policies of the Myanmar government in Rakhine state have resulted hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee since the late 1970s

Security cooperation

• The main forum for ASEAN security dialogue is the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).
• India has been attending annual meetings of this forum since 1996 and has actively participated in its various activities.
• The ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) is the highest defence consultative and cooperative mechanism in ASEAN.
• The ADMM+ brings together Defence Ministers from the 10 ASEAN nations plus Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russia, and the United States on a biannual basis.

Trade and Investment

• India-ASEAN trade and investment relations have been growing steadily, with ASEAN being India’s fourth largest trading partner.
• The annual trade between India and ASEAN stood at approximately US$ 76.53 billion in 2014-15.
• It declined to US$ 65.04 billion in 2015-16 essentially due to declining commodity prices amidst a general slowing down of the global economy.
• Investment flows are also substantial both ways, with ASEAN accounting for approximately 12.5% of investment flows into India since 2000.

Convergence

• Economic ties between India and Southeast Asia are, for reasons of history, orientation and policy, today still rather thin.
• There seems to be a trend of convergence between the economic orientations and policies of India and Southeast Asia, as it within ASEAN itself.
• Free global trade and globalization are the common grounds between ASEAN and India.
• Current relations
• The year 2017 also completes 15 years of India-ASEAN dialogue at the summit.
• 2017 also commemorates the completion of five years of strategic partnership between Asia’s third-largest economy and one of the most successful economic groupings in the world.
• India’s bid to accentuate its links with ASEAN comes at a time of flux in the region with China seen as growing more assertive vis-a-vis its territorial claims in the oil and gas-rich South China Sea, which is also a major international maritime trade route.

What needs to be done?

• India is yet to give a signal that its remains committed to a long-term strategic presence in the region.
• Economically, India needs to develop connectivity with the region so that economic complementarities can be fully realized.
• Militarily, India needs to evolve into a robust security provider in the region.
• Diplomatically, it needs a sustained outreach.
• Culturally, it needs to build on the shared cultural linkages.

What does the summit mean to India?

• The India-ASEAN Summit symbolizes India’s commitment to deepen its ties with the ASEAN member states and the Indo-Pacific region as part of the ‘Act East Policy’.
• The 10-member grouping ASEAN and India comprise a total population of 1.85 billion people which is one-fourth of the global population. The combined GDP has been estimated at over 3.8 trillion dollars.