Abstract
Marking three decades of ASEAN–India relations, the Book Thirty years of ASEAN–India Relations: Towards Indo-Pacific, Prabir De (ed.) KW Publishers, 2023 is a collection of 30 essays written by experts from diverse fields reflecting on various dimensions of bilateral relations between the ASEAN and India. The 30 chapters are appropriately divided into four parts with the first devoted to the evolution of the bilateral relationship as viewed using the initial framework provided by India’s ‘Look East Policy’ followed by the present framework of the ‘Act East policy’. The section includes two chapters covering the expanse of development of bilateral relations over the 30-year period. The discussion is placed in a broad overarching framework visualising future prospects as assessed in the present context and as evident from the experience of bilateral cooperation including challenges faced in the course of these last three decades. Both the essays in this section are a commendable exercise in compressing the rich partnership across multiple dimensions like defence, agriculture, energy, technology, trade, investment, tourism, environment alongside a chronological account of various summits, official meetings with analysis of outcomes in different fields. The second chapter making a similarly broad assessment of the India–ASEAN FTA, also discusses trade possibilities beyond the RCEP and scope for the expansion of trade in agriculture and services especially in IT sector and enhanced cooperation in the area of climate change. Appropriately, due emphasis is placed on the significant issue of connectivity projects as part of the bilateral relationship, by both Kundu and Ao in this section.
Part 2 of the Book with a little less than half the total number of chapters has impressive breadth of coverage and depth of analysis. Divided into four parts, the major focus is on the aspect of trade and investment. The six chapters in this part of the book deal with overall and sector-specific analysis. The detailed analysis of trends and patterns in bilateral trade, pre- and post-FTA trade trends, comparative advantage including potential possibilities as well as of trade intensity provides a worthy assessment of bilateral economic relations as they have evolved over the last 30-year period. In addition, the analysis serves as a useful basis for laying out future possibilities for bilateral trade enhancement. Complemented by the in-depth analysis of bilateral investment relations, sector-wise, identification of potential areas for investment cooperation and required policy framework, by Kumaraswamy, the comprehensive coverage is a major contribution of this Book on the subject of ASEAN India bilateral trade and investment relations. The chapter on services by Gupta, adds further value to the section given the comparative advantage that this sector has to benefit India. The two other chapters—using general equilibrium analysis with the standard GTAP model and working out implications of carbon emissions by Srivastava and Mathur and that by Ansari and Sensarma examining the influence of economic freedom on FDI while good—seem somehow as outliers in an otherwise well planned and cogently organised subsection.
The following subsection in this part, on production networks, is focused on one of the most significant aspects of India–ASEAN economic relations, existing and potential. Given the centricity of value chain production to the ASEAN economies the two chapters make a valuable contribution to the volume and overall analysis. In the context of the global shifts in GVCs and the possible opportunities that these present for India in the ‘China plus one’ strategy of large corporations and for India–ASEAN relations cannot be underestimated. The first chapter by Rahman and De, focused on the manufacturing sector and subsectors within manufacturing, while examining the extent of participation of both economies in GVCs highlights the important role of trade facilitation measures, extent of trade liberalisation and the nature and number of NTMs that often tend to inhibit the integration with GVCs for the two economies individually as well as with each other.
The third subsection in part 2 deals with another very relevant aspect and an important pillar of the Act east policy that is, connectivity. Two essays, by De and Bimal, are included in this subsection. While the former deals with a 30-year review of progress in the ASEAN–India connectivity programmes and projects, the second, by Bimal, discusses the more specific contribution of land ports in India’s Northeast as gateways/means of connectivity to the Southeast Asia. The overview of connectivity projects in all segments, such as roads and highways, railways, maritime, aviation and the crucial aspect of digital connectivity is detailed and analytical. The chapter rightly highlights that the importance of the digital connectivity is evident not just in terms of trade but also with respect to issues of resilience that have acquired salience in the post-COVID world. Bimal’s detailed presentation of the land customs stations, integrated checkposts, border trade posts and some selected projects within each of these is highly informative. In addition, the chapter makes a significant contribution by identifying the possible economic corridors between India and ASEAN. Economic corridors assist greatly in the process of trade for connected economies and simultaneously add substantially to the welfare of border communities by developing industrial agglomerations along the length of the corridor.
The last subsection in part 2 of the book deals with the cultural pillar of bilateral cooperation. The three essays deal with the theme of cultural connectivity presented using interesting frameworks. While the chapter by Dutta and Mitra discusses diverse definitions of cultural relations it reflects also on the existing framework of cultural connectivity based on networking dialogues, exchange of visits, capacity building and strengthening existing cultural links. Exploring drivers of cultural connectivity at the sectoral levels, the authors look at tourism and education suggesting a matrix approach of developing potential along the institutional parameters as well as with schemes/programmes. The paper by Chaturvedy is along the more traditional lines and presents an overview of shared historical past and values and how these can contribute to constructive convergence.
Part 3 of the book is focused on new areas of cooperation in the ASEAN–India economic relations. This includes bilateral cooperation towards diverse objectives with particular emphasis on sustainable development, digital economy and e-VBAB, the e-network project to provide good quality education and tele medicine facilities that has been of assistance in 54 African countries. The expansion of e-VBAB in the context of ASEAN and its contribution to India’s soft and smart power in the larger context of the Indo-Pacific is a thought well worth pursuing. The challenges brought forth by COVID necessitate the use of such digital networks in the field of education and health. The institutional mechanisms in ASEAN, as discussed in the chapter, will help bring such objectives to fruition. While highlighting the advantages of such an approach in terms of time and costs, the author is to be credited for indicating the many challenges that embracing digital technology may bring forth for these countries. Nevertheless, it is an idea that is worth further thought. The theoretical framework to this context is ably provided by Naksar in the following chapter within the larger discourse of the state of international relations in the region. Pulipaka’s paper, also a part of this section, presents through case studies, the increasing importance of recognising non-traditional security threats that increasingly confront the region. These are discussed with reference to health security, illegal fishing, illegal drugs and piracy. The chapter on ASEAN–India cooperation in MSMEs, would perhaps have been better placed as part of the production networks subsection in part 2. Given the short length of the chapter it could have been well integrated in the discussion on GVCs in manufacturing in part 2.
The last part of the Book expectedly deals with the way forward in India–ASEAN economic relations. The four chapters lay out different facets of India–ASEAN maritime cooperation in terms of broader strategic construct of the Indo-Pacific. The analyses in these chapters run across different themes such as maritime domain awareness and its major drivers as also some specific non-traditional security threats. This is followed by a discussion on trade and connectivity including creation of maritime infrastructure among the Indo-Pacific economies and finally the Indo-Pacific oceans initiative. Most appropriately, the last chapter in this section situates the ASEAN–India relationship in the broader context of the Indo-Pacific.
Summing up, the Book is a commendable effort by the editor to integrate the ASEAN–India relations as they have evolved over the last three decades within the broader regional construct of the Indo-Pacific.