Rediscovering Asia

Shri Yashwant Sinha

Minister for External Affairs

Govt. of India

The foreign policy of any country, I suppose, must aim at a comprehensive, productive, meaningful and mutually beneficial relationship with all countries in the world. No country can afford not to be engaged with its neighborhood. The concept of neighborhood has also undergone a change. Today, it is not the immediate neighborhood alone but it is the extended neighborhood. The ‘near’ far as some people describe it or the ‘far neighborhood’ as others choose to call it. Therefore India’s engagement with this extended neighborhood should not come as a surprise. In fact as Prakash Nanda has mentioned, the absence of such an engagement is a matter of surprise. There is no point in today going into the history of why that engagement did not materialize in the decades after independence. As he has brought out and as you will discover from this book, when we became an independent country, that engagement was very much on the cards and all the writings and speeches of our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru dwelt on that engagement, emphasizing the importance of that engagement. But somewhere down the line it got diluted, derailed or for whatever reason, that engagement did not fructify in the manner in which it should have.

It was only in the last decade of the last century that Prime Minister Narasimha Rao came out with his Look East policy and after that we have been engaging countries in East Asia. Prakash Nanda is quite right in saying that this was interpreted somewhat narrowly as Indo-ASEAN engagement. We felt that if we engage the ten countries of ASEAN that was engagement with East Asia and it is also true that in some of my recent speeches, I have said that we have entered Phase-II of our Look East policy, which is both, more comprehensive in its coverage territorially and materially. In terms of territorial expanse, besides the ten countries in ASEAN, we are engaged with North East Asia, with Japan, with China and the Koreas. Down south there is much greater engagement with Australia and New Zealand. Therefore when we talk of India-East Asia engagement we are including this whole region.

It is important to note that this is a much deeper and broader engagement. Last year, our Prime Minister traveled to Phnom Penh for the first-ever ASEAN-India Summit. He suggested that we should negotiate a framework agreement for a Free Trade Area between ASEAN and India. The suggestion was received with a certain element of disbelief. There were some doubts with regard to the speed with which it could be achieved. Within twelve months, when we met the ASEAN again at the summit level, this time in Bali, we signed three documents with ASEAN. We signed the framework agreement on FTA. We acceded to the Friendship and Amity Treaty. We signed a MOU on counter terrorism. Within a short span of twelve months therefore, engagement with ASEAN has acquired a deeper meaning. With South Korea, Japan and China also having their own free trade agreements with ASEAN, perhaps, we are on the threshold of a much larger conglomeration of nations, perhaps, at the threshold of an Asian free trade area, because if those countries have free trade with ASEAN, then, we are also engaging each other in a more extensive context.

I was recently in Australia and I noticed a certain eagerness there to engage with India. They are building a relationship with ASEAN, with Asia and they very much want India to be a part of this. Similarly, the Ganga-Mekong Group, the BIMSTC-EC, and the Indian Ocean Rim countries all emphasize this deeper engagement of India with the rest of Asia. I was therefore not surprised when I found in the book and, to which Prakash Nanda has made a reference here that in Korea, there is a feeling that India is not part of Asia. If there was such a feeling, I think, the Thai initiative of the Asian Cooperation Dialogue, which started two years ago, has put to rest any doubts that anyone had with the concept of Asia, because in the first meeting of the Asian Cooperation Dialogue which was held in Thailand and which I attended as representative of India in my capacity as the then Finance Minister of India, we had Pakistan and we had Qatar. Subsequently, the Group expanded from 18 to 22 and this time when we had a brief meeting of the Foreign Ministers on the margins of the UNGA in New York, we had Kazakhstan; we had Saudi Arabia and more countries from east and west of India. Now, therefore, the point I am making is that like we have the Look East policy, Thailand has a Look West policy and they are trying to engage countries in the Gulf, in the Middle East and in Central Asia. So, we when in the context of India, talk of the extended neighborhood, it certainly is all the countries including Australia and New Zealand, all the countries of East Asia, all the countries in Central Asia, all the countries in the Gulf and West Asia.

If you look at the geography of this continent, you will find India is at the heart of it. Not merely must we be geographically in the center of things, but in our engagement also, we must be in the center of things, because India has this advantage geographically and otherwise, to become the lynchpin in engagement of various countries. Therefore, in recent years, India has put emphasis on, if I could borrow this expression of ‘rediscovering Asia’. We have emphasized on Central Asia, the countries of Asia to the west of Pakistan and of course East Asia. I also notice in interaction with representatives of these regions, that there is a new consciousness of their Asian identity. People across countries are freely talking about the twenty-first century being an Asian century.

There are any numbers of reports brought out by research organizations around the world that Asia will lead the economic growth of the world in the twenty-first century. There is this very interesting analysis which has come out recently by Goldman Sachs, I think, which talks of how the big economies are going to perform. That is not merely Asia, it includes Brazil and Russia also and there is a reference to South Africa too. How they are going to be in 2050? The brightest place goes to China and India in this. Now if China and India are the engines for the growth of the whole world economy, then, clearly, Asia will play its destined role in not only development and economic growth around the world but also in its security dimensions. When I was telling you about India being at the heart of Asia, I also had in my mind the history of contacts which we have had with all these regions and the fact that India never went out with its sword to these countries. We never went out as conquerors or as colonizers. We went out with our civilizational values, with our culture, with our religion and in friendship and in amity. That is in the historical character of the Indian nation and I do not think that historical character can be altered by contemporary or future events. That historical character will hold. In other words, India will approach these nations in friendship and amity, with peace and prosperity in mind and mutual benefit. Therefore I notice that we are a little more than welcome.

Engagement with India is a little more desirable and all these countries are today recognizing the strength of India - the strength in terms of military, the strength in terms of the growing size of our economy, strength of achievements in science and technology, the strength in terms of achievements of our human resources. We owe it to these countries that we assist them in the best possible manner. Therefore, in all our interactions, the emphasis is on science and technology, the emphasis is on development of human resources and the emphasis is on greater economic engagement in terms of investment as well as in terms of trade. The emphasis is on whatever technical assistance India can extend to these countries. Clearly, if India wants to pursue the national and international goals that we have set for ourselves, we would like peace to prevail globally and particularly, in our region. Any threat to peace by state actors or non state actors is a threat to the goal of prosperity for our people that we pursue. I think there is a consensus within India that this is a goal which should be pursued with single-minded determination. It is for this reason that India seeks peace and it is for this reason that we are cooperating with all in the fight against terrorism.

In the immediate context, greater economic engagement among the regions of Asia and a determined and joint fight against terrorism are the challenges that we face. Except for some exceptions, by and large, we find this view shared by everyone, whether they be the countries of Central Asia, Gulf or West Asia and East Asia. Concern against terrorist outfits is as much present in Central Asia as it is present in India. It is as much present today in East Asia as it is present in India. It is as much present in the Gulf because of the events that have happened as it is in India. It is a shared concern.

This is a threat, which, I have no doubt in my mind, will be overcome. I think the forces which have taken to terrorism will be subdued soon because the fight against terrorism is becoming global. There are no doubt differences in perception. These differences in perception are however vanishing as more and more terrorist attacks are take place around the world. Double standards will have to be given up as there is no way the world will be able to deal with terrorism through double standards. So, this is something which is evolving and bound to have its lessons for the rest of the world.

India has been very clear about its understanding of terrorism. We do not see terrorism as a clash of civilizations. We do not link terrorism with any religion and it will be a grievous error of understanding to do that. We are also against double standards in the fight against terrorism. If we are to win this war, it will have to be fought with a single-minded purpose. Clearly, for this, international obligations enshrined in the various documents will have to be enforced. Therefore, if I look into the future, by the end of this decade or by the next decade, this is a challenge which would be fully met. Terrorism will become a thing of the past, perhaps, a sad chapter in human history.

I think more and more nations throughout the world want peace because they are all facing a revolution of rising expectations. Democratic norms are bound to prevail. More and more countries which do not have democracy today will embrace democracy and democracies will generally opt for peace rather than war. Therefore, we can look forward to a world and an Asia, which will be more democratic, which will pursue economic objectives and which will give a better quality of life to their people. For that purpose, interest in peace will be far more abiding and enduring than is the case at this point of time. All these have been part of our historical tradition. All these are avowed objectives of India’s foreign policy. All these are the national goals of India and therefore in this context, I see a very clear role for India in Asia.

I have no doubt in my mind that the kind of comment that Prakash Nanda had to hear in the Republic of Korea will not be heard in future. Countries in all parts of Asia will realize that India is Asia and that India will have to play its role in delivering Asia to its destiny. India will also play an important role in Asia’s relationship with the rest of the world. I would like to congratulate Prakash Nanda once again for this very interesting book that he has brought out. We will all benefit by his very substantive ideas and analysis and as I said, some of the concerns which have been expressed in the book will be taken care of by those who are in-charge of framing policies.

Let me join Shri. Bharat Verma in congratulating Shri. Prakash Nanda on writing a book, which can only be described as monumental. I have had occasion to glance through the book. I think the inclusion of an interesting historical perspective and contemporary events along with a description of the evolution of India’s engagement with Asia makes this book an extremely valuable contribution to the literature on this subject.

Thank you very much

A speech by Shri. Yashwant Sinha at the launch of Shri. Prakash Nanda’s book “Rediscovering Asia: Evolution of India’s Look East Policy”.  The book was organized by Lancer Publishers at the Indian International Center in New Delhi on November 5, 2003. The speech has been reproduced here with the permission of Capt. (r) Bharat Verma, the editor of India Defence Review.