ASEAN Summit: Should India grab this new opportunity to challenge China?

India and Cambodia have ties that can be traced back centuries. (Photo by James Wheeler from Pexels)

It’s a good time for India to increase its influence in ASEAN, according to former diplomats and experts in international relations.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) recently concluded its meeting, which was held between February 15 and 17. 

Given her geographical location, India is not a member of ASEAN, but the country was conferred an advisory status in 1996.

The member countries of the association are growing concerned about ASEAN’s current chair Cambodia’s close relationship with China. Some experts believe that China, with its habitual muscling around in the South China Sea, has annoyed several ASEAN countries by trampling over their sovereignty, islands, territorial waters, and fishing resources.

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This offers a good opportunity for India to use the many diplomatic and economic levers it has with Cambodia, to build a stronger relationship with the kingdom and offer a counterbalance.

India-Cambodia relations 

India is among Cambodia’s top foreign investors and offers a massive market of 1.3 billion people for a much-needed diversification of Phnom Penh’s exports. 

The two countries also have ties that can be traced back centuries. A note from the ministry of external affairs puts it in perspective: ``India-Cambodia relations go back to the 1st century AD when Hindu and Buddhist religious and cultural influences emanated out of India to various parts of South-East Asia. Cambodians are today predominantly Buddhist but retain a strong influence of Hindu rituals, idolatry, and mythology.’’

Officials are keen to assess the status of India-Cambodia relations given that both countries will be celebrating their 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations this year.

Granted, China’s influence in Cambodia is considerable. Being Cambodia’s largest trading partner, China has funded at least 70 percent of Cambodia’s key infrastructure, particularly roads and bridges. China promised to deliver $588 million as aid between 2019-2021, apart from offering support during the pandemic.

Cambodia has paid it back with loyalty too.

Writes former Indian Ambassador to ASEAN, Gurdip Singh: ``As the Chinese pressure on the South China Sea (SCS) increased in the 21st century, they sought to assert the concept of the `Nine-dash line’ and assume control over island territories belonging to the ASEAN countries. The incremental problem came to a head in 2012, during the Cambodian chairmanship. Most of the ASEAN countries wanted to criticise China for what it had done. Cambodia stood firm, confirming its status as the closest ally of China within ASEAN. Due to this, Cambodia as Chairman in 2012, could not have a joint communique of the foreign ministers for the first time in the ASEAN history.”

But far from helping, this silent pact with China has put Cambodia in a bit of a diplomatic spot. From the deportation of Uyghur asylum seekers to blocking the issuing of joint communique in favour of China, its global standing has been somewhat compromised.

Recently, the US put into place a new set of restrictions on Cambodia, including an arms embargo, due to its human rights record and China’s growing military muscle flexing in the region.  

What India stands to gain

Better relations with Cambodia will pay India well too, especially at ASEAN, an association that has become crucial to the nation.

Says former deputy NSA and Indian ambassador Pankaj Saran: ``ASEAN is fundamental and a critical component of India’s Look East and Act East policy and is indeed central to the entire Indo-Pacific policy, which is very important to New Delhi.”  

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A partnership with key Southeast Asian countries will go a long way in furthering India’s `Look East’ policy.

Initiated in 1991, Look East marked a strategic shift in India’s perspective of the world. It was developed and enacted during the government of Prime Minister Narsimha Rao (1991–1996) and rigorously pursued by the successive administrations of Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1998–2004) and Manmohan Singh (2004–2014).

``From high-level engagements with Indonesia and Vietnam to finalising the sale of the BrahMos shore-based supersonic cruise missile with the Philippines, India has endeavoured to bolster its strategic partnership with these countries,” Pankaj Saran told Moneycontrol. 

Writers like Don McLain Gill, a resident fellow at the Manila-based International Development and Security Cooperation (IDSC) believe that India must also maintain a proactive level of consistency in applying its Act East Policy.

``The lack of momentum in the past has allowed countries like China to monopolise influence over key Southeast Asian countries. It will be necessary for India to project itself as a responsible stakeholder in the stability of the region and a trustworthy partner that seeks to achieve mutual gains,” he says.

For former Indian ambassador, Deepak Vohra, ASEAN will have to `resdesign’ itself, if something more constructive has to come out of its existence. ``Which country in this group gets along with China? They need to decouple themselves from Beijing. And it can be done. Vietnam, Indonesia, you name it, are all under stress. That must happen if this association of countries has to really prosper,” he told Moneycontrol.

There is one differing opinion though, from veteran diplomat and former Indian envoy, G Parthasarathy. According to him, India shouldn’t press too hard on being an alternative to China. 

“I believe that India is playing it fine, the way it should. It is playing low key and countries in the region are comfortable with it. It needs to continue in this vein,” Parthasarathy told Moneycontrol.