Bharat Rakshak

South China Sea: Washington 'Lost the Plot and the Pivot' in Southeast Asia © AP Photo/ Fan Yishu/Xinhua

POLITICS 16:55 16.09.2016(updated 16:56 16.09.2016) Get short URL Ekaterina Blinova 117386522 Although Washington has taken every effort to undermine Beijing's position in the Southeast region, US President Obama's "Pivot to Asia" policy has failed. Geostrategic analyst Mathew Maavak and CNTV Editor Tom McGregor shared their views on the prospects of the South China Sea dispute in an interview with Sputnik. © AP PHOTO/ ZHA CHUNMING/XINHUA Stern Bear, Rising Dragon: Russia & China Steadily Grow Defense Cooperation While China is pushing ahead with the New Silk Road initiative and establishing closer working relationships with other major Eurasian powers, such as Russia and India, in order to transform the continent into a unified trade space, Washington has increased its pressure on Beijing. It is hardly a coincidence that the US has intensified its FONOP (freedom of navigation operation) maneuvers in the South China Sea at the same time trying to drive a wedge between Beijing and the ASEAN nations. Furthermore, on July 12, 2016 The Hague Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) issued a ruling on the dispute brought by the Philippines — the US' military ally since 1951 — against China over the South China Sea back in 2013. The Court stipulated that China's historic claims within the nine-dash line in the South China Sea have no legal foundation. © AFP 2016/ SAUL LOEB MANMAN DEJETO Changing Tides in South China Sea Trigger Manila's Spat With Washington The arbitration case was brought at the PCA in 2013 by former Philippine president Benigno Aquino, who at the same time started negotiating an enhanced defense pact with Washington aimed at beefing up US military presence in the region. In March 2016 Militarytimes.com highlighted that the agreement between Washington and Manila had come into force, paving the way for a new American "permanent military presence" across five bases in the Philippines and targeting "the contested South China Sea." It seemed that Barack Obama's "Pivot to Asia" strategy reached its goal. However, further developments showed that there's many a slip between the cup and the lip. Following The Hague ruling ASEAN nations refused to aggravate tensions with China, while the Philippines' new leader Rodrigo Duterte didn't rush to reap the benefits of the award. © REUTERS/ ERIK DE CASTRO A fisherman repairs his boat overlooking fishing boats that fish in the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, at Masinloc, Zambales, in the Philippines (File) Why Obama's 'Pivot to Asia' Strategy Has Been Proven Ineffective As Obama's second term is ending, can we say that his Pivot to Asia strategy has failed? "Without a scintilla of doubt!" Mathew Maavak, geostrategic analyst and doctoral candidate in Security Foresight at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) told Sputnik. "Washington virtually sent an armada to rebuff so-called Chinese aggression in the South China Sea, and expected the Philippines to be its military pivot in Southeast Asia. Instead, President Rodrigo Duterte called his American counterpart a 'son of a b***' and is now requesting the exit of US Special Forces from the southern Philippines," he noted. "I will be charting a [new] course [for the Philippines] on its own and will not be dependent on the United States," Duterte stressed after elections, as quoted by Reuters. Furthermore, the new Philippines President announced recently that he is mulling purchasing arms from China and Russia and may end joint patrol with the US in the South China Sea, prompting experts to speculate about a "dramatic shift in the geostrategic picture of the region," as Bloomberg noted. "Generally, US efforts in this area [the South China Sea region] have not been successful. It is trying hard to cultivate special ties with Vietnam — using the South China Sea card — but Hanoi is hedging its cards well by engaging Moscow and New Delhi as well," Maavak pointed out. "The US may have lost the plot — and the pivot — but does it still possess the capability to destabilize Southeast Asia? That's the worrying question…" he remarked. © AFP 2016/ TED ALJIBE Activists burn a mock US flag during a protest at the US embassy, to coincide with US Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to the Philippines in Manila on July 27, 2016 South China Sea May Become 'Non-Issue' if Trump Wins The question remains open whether or not Obama's successor will follow in his footsteps in Southeast Asia. Tom McGregor, Commentator and Editor at CNTV (China Network Television), believes that if Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump wins the US presidential election in November, Washington may reconsider its strategy toward Beijing and Moscow. "Now that Trump seems more likely to become the next US president, the South China Sea may become, at least relative to today, a non-issue. Trump is more concerned about promoting fair trade and bringing jobs back to the United States and costly territorial disputes do not play into that equation," McGregor told Sputnik. © AP PHOTO/ ZHA CHUNMING/XINHUA Russia-China Drills in South China Sea Show 'Solid Level of Trust' The CNTV commentator emphasized that the Obama administration's "Pivot to Asia" has de facto accelerated the Sino-Russian rapprochement. "The US Pivot to Asia has forced China to pursue its own reset with Russia. We can expect closer ties between Beijing and Moscow in the days ahead so long as Washington seeks to restrain China. Nevertheless, if US reverses course during a Trump presidency, I anticipate improved bilateral ties between Russian and the US while China may face more challenges due to a Putin-Trump rapprochement," McGregor suggested. Meanwhile, Beijing and Moscow are bolstering the Sino-Russian cooperation. At the recent G20 Summit Beijing demonstrated "special hospitality" toward Russian President Vladimir Putin. Why is Beijing interested in further political, economic and military rapprochement with Russia? Is it somehow connected with the US pressuring Beijing in the South China Sea? "Again, one can speculate that this gesture was indicative of larger, regional autarkic forces at work behind the scenes. It is not just the South China Sea at stake here. The world is waking up to the likelihood of a post-American multipolar world. This will be a post-dollar world as well, and it will be anchored foremost in Greater Eurasia. Only WWIII can delay — not prevent — a shift of geopolitical and geo-economic power to the East," Maavak emphasized, speaking to Sputnik.

Read more: https://sputniknews.com/politics/201609 ... pivot.html

Buddhist monks on Friday chanted prayers over the remains of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej at the riverside Grand Palace in Bangkok, ahead of a traditional royal cremation that will need months to prepare.

The world's longest-reigning monarch, worshipped as a father figure during his 70-year reign, died on Thursday in a Bangkok hospital, where he had been treated for years for illnesses affecting his lungs, kidneys, brain and blood. He was 88.

A royal convoy, which included heir apparent Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, moved slowly through Bangkok's ancient quarter to the Grand Palace, winding past thousands of somber Thais dressed in black, many of them holding aloft portraits of the king.

JwalaMukhi wrote:Hope foregin policy mandarins are actively monitoring the situation and building bridges to strengthen ties with Thailand dispensation.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/galle ... n-pictures

Coedes and American mathematician Amir Aczel (1950-2015) defended the significance of K-127 as it strengthens the idea that the zero symbol’s origin in the decimal number system comes from India or, in his word, other “Indianized” East Asian cultures.

Bangkok, Feb 14 (IANS) The head of the US Pacific Command on Tuesday inaugurated the Cobra Gold military exercises in Thailand with an appeal to the country’s military junta, in power since 2014, to re-establish democracy.

Speaking during the opening ceremony held at a military base southeast of Bangkok in Sahattip, Chonburi province, Admiral Harry Harris said the US wants a democratic, strong and stable Thailand. “We need Thailand to get back to being the regional and global leader that it always has been,” said Harris, according to an Internet broadcast published on the Cobra Gold website.

A comprehensive economic partnership between India, Asean and six Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners will likely take place in 2017, an External Affairs Ministry official said here on Tuesday.

"A comprehensive economic partnership between India, Asean and six FTA partners is likely. We are hoping to complete it within this year," Joint Secretary in the MEA Anurag Bhushan said at 'Act East: India's Asean Journey' organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce here.

"Once it is finalised the outcome would be a balanced and comprehensive trade agreement that would not only take care of trade and services but also investments," the official said.

Bhushan, who took over his new assignment on Monday, said the Indian-Asean trading potential was far more than what it had presently achieved.

He said connectivity being a key factor in boosting partnership between the two regions, the trilateral highway between India, Myanmar and Thailand and the Kaladan multi-modal transit project were the prime focus of the Indian government.

"The India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway in terms of road connectivity and the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit in terms of maritime connectivity are our flagship projects for the connectivity with the Asean," he said.

Bhushan said the government would do massive infrastructural development in the northeastern states as the region is extremely important for Indo-Asean connectivity.

India will host heads of at least 10 South East Asian nations on its Republic Day next year, making a major outreach to a region often perceived as the “backyard” of China.

Though New Delhi has since long been hosting a foreign leader as the chief guest on the occasion of the Republic Day every year; this is going to be the first time when as many as 10 heads of states and governments will grace the ceremony on January 26.

New Delhi already started reaching out to the leaders of the Association of South East Asia Nations (or ASEAN) – Brunei, Indonesia, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Phillippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Once the successor of President Pranab Mukherjee is elected by the end of this month, the Rashtrapati Bhavan will start the process of sending out the formal invitations to all the ASEAN leaders, sources told the Deccan Herald.

While President will host the South East Asian leaders on the Republic Day ceremony, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join them in a special India-ASEAN summit, which will commemorate 25 years of New Delhi's dialogue partnership with the 10-nation bloc.

New Delhi's move to invite the ASEAN leaders to the Republic Day ceremony next year is apparently aimed at giving a fillip to implementation of its “Act East” policy for stepping up India's engagement with South East Asia where China seeks to maintain and expand its influence.

“We are making efforts on all fronts to enhance physical and digital connectivity,” External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Tuesday. “The future focus areas of cooperation between ASEAN member states and India can be described in term of 3C’s- commerce, connectivity and culture,” she added, while speaking on the “Charting the Course for India-ASEAN relations for the next 25 Years” at an event in New Delhi. She underlined that India and ASEAN were “natural partners”.

Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Phillippines are among countries which have a territorial dispute with China over the South China Sea. Some of the ASEAN nations, however, have close economic relations with China.

“The ASEAN supports India to play a greater role in the political and security domain, and create a regional rules-based region. We hope India will continue to partner our efforts for strategic security and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea on the basis of international law and legal convention,” Pham Binh Minh, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Vietnam, said in New Delhi on Tuesday.

New Delhi's relations with Beijing worsened in the past few months. New Delhi is upset over China's opposition to India's entry to the Nuclear Suppliers Group and its policy to shield Pakistan-based anti-India terrorists from United Nations' sanctions. New Delhi is opposed to Beijing's One-Belt-One-Road connectivity initiative, which includes an economic corridor proposed to pass through areas India claims as its own and accuses Pakistan of illegally occupying.

New Delhi suspects that China's OBOR initiative is in fact aimed at expanding the footprint of the communist country across the continents. India has already been jittery about the strategic assets China is seeking to acquire or build in Indian Ocean region.

“ASEAN and India are natural partners that share geographical, historical and civilisational ties. The cultural highway that linked the rivers Ganga, Brahmaputra, Meghna, Irrawaddy and Mekong and those who dwelt on their banks, enriched our shared civilizational ethos in a two-way process,” said Swaraj, stressing: “It is important to note that this inter-mingling happened without any ‘conquest or colonisation'.”

Beijing is upset over India's growing defence ties and strategic convergence with US and Japan in Asia-Pacific, its calls for maintaining freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and its appeal to China to resolve its maritime disputes in accordance with United Nations Conventions on Law of the Sea. Beijing was also irked by New Delhi's decision to allow Tibetan leader Dalai Lama to visit India's northeastern state Arunachal Pradesh which China claims as a part of its territory.

The current face-off between soldiers of Indian Army and Chinese People's Liberation Army at Doklam Plateau in western Bhutan further strained relations between India and China, which share a long disputed border.

India turned its “Look East” policy into more proactive “Act East” policy in 2014 to add new momentum to its engagement with the ASEAN. New Delhi is of the view that India will have to focus more on its relations with South East Asian nations if it has to emerge as a major power in Asia Pacific and counter the growing influence of China in the region.

“India has been working with ASEAN towards evolving regional security architecture in the Asia Pacific that hinges on emphasising the peaceful settlement of disputes, finding collaborative solutions to emerging and non-traditional challenges, and support for the centrality of ASEAN,” Swaraj said at another event on June 22.

When New Delhi became a dialogue partner of the ASEAN in 1992; India's total trade with all the 10 members of the bloc was worth less than $ 5 billion. But, 25 years later, the ASEAN has become India's 4th largest trading partner, accounting for 10% of its total trade. The trade volume went up to $ 76.53 billion in 2014-15, although it declined to $ 65.04 billion in 2015-16, essentially due to declining commodity prices amidst a general slowing down of the global economy. India-ASEAN trade however registered an 8 % increase in 2016-17 as compared to the previous year. India's exports to ASEAN increased by almost 20% in 2016-17. The ASEAN-India free trade agreement played a major role in giving a boost to trade in goods and services.

India elevated its relations with the ASEAN to the level of strategic partnership in 2012. The special India-ASEAN summit in January 2018 will further boost the ties, sources told the DH in New Delhi.

The choice of the chief guest for the Republic Day ceremony always reflects the foreign policy priority and strategic objective of the Government.

The first Republic Day chief guest for Modi Government was the then United States President Barack Obama. He attended the ceremony on the Rajpath in New Delhi on January 26, 2015. The then French President Francois Hollande and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and de-facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, were the chief guests in Republic Day ceremonies in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

India said on Tuesday that its "powerful convergences" with the ASEAN can boost cooperation and hoped that when the grouping will look West, it will see a "more confident" nation with strong economic prospects.

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, while delivering the S T Lee Distinguished Lecture organised by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and the Indian mission here, said a grouping of 600 million people with an impressive growth record is in itself a priority for India.

Asserting that ASEAN countries have a strong stake in the issues that matter for India, Jaishankar said the ability of India and the ASEAN to harmonise global contradictions and create credible meeting points will become even more important.

"India and ASEAN have powerful convergences that can become the basis for a higher level of cooperation," Jaishankar said in his lecture titled 'India, ASEAN and Changing Geopolitics', marking 25 years of India-ASEAN relations.

"We would hope that what ASEAN sees looking West is a more confident nation with strong economic prospects, positive demographics, substantial unmet demands, leapfrogging capabilities, one that is active on global issues, shouldering more responsibilities and is a net security provider in the Indo-Pacific," he said.

RajeshA wrote:There is a very good reason, the region is called Indo-China!

In a first, 10 world leaders from Asean will be chief guests at India's annual Republic Day parade on January 26 to mark the silver jubilee of India's relations with the bloc.

All 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam - have accepted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's invite to attend the 69th Republic Day parade at the historic Rajpath, where India's military prowess and cultural heritage will be on display.

....completion would realize the big dream by 2021 — a railway linking Singapore to Kunming and on to London.

Beginning the groundwork for the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit later this month, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will visit Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore from January 4 to 8. The three-nation visit is likely to cover India’s annual plans for the region and include the launch of the Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas for the ASEAN countries.

“On all three legs of her visit, the External Affairs Minister will share with her interlocutors relevant information about the forthcoming ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit, which marks 25 years since the establishment of dialogue partnership between India and ASEAN,” said a statement from the External Affairs Ministry announcing the January 25 summit in New Delhi, which is likely to be attended by the heads of governments of all the 10 ASEAN member states.

The visit to Thailand on January 4 and 5 is significant as that nation will assume charge of India-ASEAN relations in mid-2018.

Ms. Swaraj will discuss defence, political and economic issues with her counterpart, Don Pramudwinai, in Bangkok.

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas

The visiting Minister will inaugurate the Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas of ASEAN countries in Singapore on January 7 on the theme “Ancient route, new journey: diaspora in the dynamic ASEAN-India partnership”.

“The Regional PBD is a large-scale event covering a wide range of sectors such as political relations, culture, connectivity, start-ups and science & technology. PIO delegations from all ASEAN countries, including Ministers, eminent personalities, business and socio-economic leaders, are participating in the event,” the Ministry said.

In Indonesia, Ms. Swaraj and her counterpart, Retno Marsudi, will jointly inaugurate the second meeting of the ASEAN-India Network of Think Tanks.

Ms. Swaraj is expected to discuss the modalities of the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit with Lim Jock Hoi, the new Secretary-General of ASEAN, on January 5 and 6.

She will preside over the fifth meeting of the India-Indonesia Joint Commission.

Following the summit, the visiting leaders are expected to attend the Republic Day parade in the capital.

Engaging the Myanmar Army in exercises such as those with India provides an opportunity for Myanmar Army officers to learn from the experiences of other armed forces in international military operations. The latest exercise is part of a series of training exchange programs extended to the Myanmar Army that focus on UN peacekeeping, including ‘humanitarian relief operations, rebuilding infrastructure, providing civilian police support, monitoring borders and supporting electoral processes’. The week-long joint exercise trained 15 officers of the Myanmar Army to meet the evolving challenges of peacekeeping operations in accordance with the ‘principles, policies and guidelines’ of the United Nations. It will substantially enhance the Myanmar Army’s experience of conducting international military operations in conflict situations.

UN peacekeeping training operations between the Indian and Myanmar armies are typically series of training exchange programmes. The last exercise in this series was held in early August in Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw and trained 30 Myanmar officers. The Indian Army has agreed to train the Myanmar Army every year for a total of five years through its mobile training teams. Until recently, the mobile training teams sent to Myanmar largely focused on naval training administered by the Indian Navy.

The fact that the Myanmar Army is willing to conduct joint training of such a nature indicates the high level of comfort that it has with the Indian Army. This will help expose the Tatmadaw to the principles and guidelines of the United Nations in conflict and post-conflict operations. The Myanmar Army may then apply these lessons within the country’s own borders.

More broadly, exercises like these foster interoperability between the two countries’ defence forces and create further opportunities for joint capability enhancement exercises in the future. Such exercises also evidence how India subtly utilises military diplomacy to nudge neighbouring militaries towards international standards in peacekeeping and other operations.

Major Western nations including the United States and the United Kingdom have announced plans to scale down military engagements and assistance to the Tatmadaw in response to its brutal crackdown on the Rohingya community. Comparatively, India is using its defence ties with Myanmar to help prepare the Myanmar Army to re-engage with the international community in the hope that this will have a long-term positive impact on the armed forces’ conduct within Myanmar

K Yhome is a Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi.

It is destination ASEAN for India this new year even as the government is all set to woo the 10 member countries with mega connectivity plans while paving the way for a grand roadmap on maritime security and cooperation.

While all the heads of state of the ASEAN member countries will witness a grand display of India’s might in weaponry and armaments during the Republic Day celebrations, they will be given a detailed and elaborate presentation on India’s connectivity and maritime security plans by Prime Minister Narendra Modi a day before during the India-ASEAN Commemorative Summit, sources told BusinessLine.

The idea is to “catch up” with China’s speed and magnitude in terms of enhanced connectivity through roads and ports to make the country’s presence felt as Beijing makes inroads with its ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI), sources added.

ASEAN-India connectivity

In fact, with an escalating aggressive posture that is being taken by China at the South China Sea as it continues to reclaim islands and convert those into military bases, ASEAN is increasingly seeking a greater security role to be played by India by way of large-scale connectivity.

The blueprint of ASEAN-India connectivity was prepared in 2010 when India gave a push to its ‘Look East’ policy under the previous government. {And it is still in blueprint stage. It hasn't moved much since then.} It was then continued by the present BJP government under the refurbished ‘Act East’ policy.

During the summit, PM Modi will give a detailed update on some of the construction activities that have been underway for a long time. One such project is the India-Thailand trilateral highway that begins from Moreh in Manipur and ending in Bangkok by cutting through Myanmar. This is expected to be completed by 2020.

The highway is expected to be extended to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam at a later stage. {When? By 2050?}

“The India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway, and its extension to Laos and Cambodia, should also be extended to reach Vietnam, realising the East-West link under the Dawei project, which played a central role in the context of transport connectivity.

Air and maritime connectivity could be enhanced by the greater liberalisation of the ASEAN-India air services agreement and ASEAN-India cooperation in maritime transport,” said Prabir De, Professor, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), and Coordinator, ASEAN-India Centre (AIC), India.

Yet another project, the Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Corridor connecting Myanmar’s Sittwe Port with Kolkata port, is almost nearing completion.

This will also have road connectivity from Zorinpuri in Mizoram till the Sittwe port via Paletwa in Myanmar. A Special Economic Zone is also expected to come up there.

Additionally, the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM), which connects Kolkata, Dhaka, Silchar, Imphal, Mandalay, Boashan and Kunming and covering a total length of 2,800 km, is also part of the mega connectivity plan.

But these plans are small when compared to the $180-billion BRI project of China. Under the BRI, Beijing has made a multi-pronged strategy to have both surface as well as maritime connectivity.

China is building high-speed connectivity rail links in Malaysia, Lao PDR, Cambodia and Indonesia, apart from metro connectivity and other projects in Vietnam.

But these plans are small when compared to the $180-billion BRI project of China. Under the BRI, Beijing has made a multi-pronged strategy to have both surface as well as maritime connectivity.

Four months after identifying the successful bidder, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) issued the letter of award to Punj Lloyd and Varaha Infra joint venture last week for the construction of a two-lane highway in the Kalewa-Yargi section of the proposed India-Myanmar-Thailand (IMT) Trilateral Highway.

The highway will connect India with Thailand through Myanmar, the only ASEAN country that shares land border with India. With $70-billion trade, ASEAN is India’s fourth largest trading partner.

Estimated cost

The 120-km-long road section is estimated to cost ₹1,177 crore. India has already built the 132-km section, referred to as Friendship Highway, from the border town of Tamu to Kalewa. A separate contract is underway for upgradation of 69 bridges along the Tamu-Kalewa stretch.

According to sources, after Punj-Varaha joint venture accepts the award, NHAI will meet the Myanmarase authorities to ensure a minimum 80 per cent land availability to kick off construction. Myanmar has already assured NHAI of land availability. Punj has past experience of executing contracts in Myanmar.

A detailed project report (DPR) is underway to build the Rih-Tedim road that will help connect the Trilateral Highway through Zokhawthar-Rih border in Mizoram, where India has already committed huge sums for widening the highway. Currently, Myanmar is connected by road only through Moreh in Manipur.

Meanwhile, India plans to extend road connectivity to the entire CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) region. A preliminary survey has also been initiated for rail connectivity parallel to the Trilateral Highway. Japan is interested in funding and collaborating with India in the trilateral rail project.

While the trilateral highway is fully financed by India, Delhi is contemplating a sizable line of credit for future connectivity projects with ASEAN countries.

N-E connectivity

Parallel to overseas connectivity projects, the Narendra Modi government has rolled out multi-billion dollar projects to improve both road and rail connectivity to the North-Eastern States. As part of the project, a DPR is launched to build a new road-cum-rail bridge at Dhubri near the Bengal-Assam border.

The proposed 15-km long Dhubri-Fulbari bridge will pave way for easy connectivity to the Garo Hills in Meghalaya and the neighbouring Northern Bangladeshi districts.

India recently completed building a 9-km long Dhola-Sadia bridge at the Assam-Arunachal border. Another 5-km long bridge at Bogibeel over Brahmaputra is nearing completion.

A detailed project report (DPR) is underway to build the Rih-Tedim road that will help connect the Trilateral Highway through Zokhawthar-Rih border in Mizoram, where India has already committed huge sums for widening the highway.

Currently, Myanmar is connected by road only through Moreh in Manipur.

With a running theme of "commerce, connectivity and culture", the Indian government is setting up multiple connection points with Asean countries as New Delhi gears up for the Asean-India commemorative summit and the biggest ever group of chief guests at the Republic Day celebrations.

The Asean-India summit, to mark 25 years of a partnership will be an occasion for India to showcase itself as an attractive alternative to China which is the overwhelming power in the region. India will emphasize that it is attuned to what is believed to be the "Asean way of doing business" and committed to the idea of the "centrality" of Asean. Sources said it was important to emphasize these principles at a time when China's exercise of aggressive power appeared to be weakening Asean.

The Asean-India celebrations kicked off with a letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Rodrigo Duterte of Philippines in 2017. The new chair of Asean is Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore. Modi had personally invited each of the Asean leaders during the last Asean summit in Manila in November.

Sources said, "We share maritime and land boundaries with Myanmar other ASEAN countries, have strong historical ties and cultural ties which is clear by the presence of Buddhism in so many east Asian countries." Government sources said this was an important time for India to ramp up engagement with the region "at a time when we are seeing new US and China policies in this region."

January started with the Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Singapore, to be followed by a meeting on forestry and agriculture, Dhamma-Dharma conference in Rajgir, Hackathon and stat-up festival, media and business meets. The summit itself will get underway with a preparatory meeting of senior officials on January 23, as well as a Asean-India business council and business conclave. A park in Tughlaq Avenue New Delhi will be dedicated to India-Asean friendship as well as a textile event on the woev relationship of the region with India.

Sushma Swaraj will give out Asean India youth awards, while the Indian government will be hosting 500 students from Asean countries to experience India by traveling through Delhi, Agra, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune on the 23rd.

The summit itself will be held on the 25th, which will include commemorative stamps. Concurrently, a Ramayana festival will explore the cultural linkages between India and Asean, since the epic is as much a part of Asean heritage as Indian. The celebrations will go on even after the Republic Day parade where leaders from all 10 Asean countries will be on the dais as chief guests, ending with an Asean-northeast India sports festival in Guwahati and a film festival in Goa.

SSridhar wrote:Asean summit: India positions itself as China alternative - Indrani Bagchi, ToI

The ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit to be held here on January 25 is likely to focus on maritime security for the region, a senior ASEAN diplomat said on Wednesday.

Speaking to The Hindu , Ambassador of Thailand Chutintorn Sam Gongsakdi said that ASEAN expected India to highlight maritime security during the summit, even as the External Affairs Ministry said that discussion on a “very important” MoU on maritime cooperation was ongoing alongside plans for enhancement of air connectivity.

“We expect India to highlight maritime security [in the Commemorative Summit]. This meeting is important and we hope that there will be serious discussions on maritime security, including freedom of navigation, piracy, keeping sea trading lanes clear. India attaches a lot of importance to maritime security and ASEAN countries are preparing for an intense discussion on that,” Mr. Gongsakdi said.

The envoy’s comment is significant as Thailand will be the coordinating country in charge of ASEAN-India ties from the middle of the year. In view of Thailand’s importance, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited the country last week. Preeti Saran, Secretary in charge of Eastern Affairs in the Ministry, said that connectivity and maritime cooperation would form the backdrop for the summit.

“We are discussing a very important agreement on how to enhance maritime connectivity with the ASEAN countries. We will also hold a Working Group meeting of the Civil Aviation Ministries before the summit to discuss air connectivity,” said Ms. Saran in a special briefing on India’s plans for the commemorative summit-related celebrations on January 25 and 26.

As New Delhi continues to push for better connectivity with Southeast Asia through the northeast under its Act East Policy, Thailand's Ambassador to India Chutintorn Gongsakdi has said that "soft connectivity" is the key to India-ASEAN ties.

Commenting on the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway, work on which is under way, Chutintorn said that construction on the Thailand side has been completed and "we are waiting for India to finish road construction in Myanmar".

"But what is more important is that when the road is finished, we have to be prepared on the customs, immigration and quarantine aspects because we cannot have roads and then people getting stuck at the border," he said on the sidelines of a Thai food festival in the capital.

"So, we are interested in what we call the 'soft connectivity', the software for the people, the rules and regulations. Now we are negotiating the motor vehicle agreement."

According to the Indian External Affairs Ministry, the highway connecting Moreh in the northeastern state of Manipur with Mae Sot in Thailand is set to be completed in 2019.

Explaining why customs, immigration and quarantine comprise the difficult part of connectivity, Chutintorn said: "When we had a road going up to China through Laos, at one of the summits, the Prime Minister of Laos said that it cannot be that it takes five hours to get from one country to the next and then you have another five hours of customs, immigration and quarantine. So, we have to make sure that this does not happen. It has to be seamless and smooth."

His comments come as New Delhi prepares to host on January 25 a commemorative summit to mark the 25th anniversary of the India-Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) Dialogue Partnership and ahead of Thailand taking over from Vietnam later this year as country coordinator for India with the regional bloc.

Thai Prime Minister Prayur Chan-o-cha will be among all 10 ASEAN leaders who will be participating in the January 25 summit before attending the Republic Day celebrations the next day as guests of honour.

The ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Asked what would be the priorities for Thailand when it takes over as the country coordinator for India, Chutintorn said that it was too early to say but "at least we know we will continue with ASEAN-India priorities".

"Things like connectivity, maritime security, economic integration and especially connectivity link through the northeast," he said. "But also emphasising on maritime and air connectivity because only one dimension is not enough. We need air, sea and land."

Asked about India-Thailand bilateral economic ties, the Ambassador said: "We can do more because India-ASEAN trade is over $70 billion and with Thailand it is just over $8 billion, which is just over a tenth. It can be more."

In this connection, he stressed on the need to conclude the India-Thailand free trade agreement (FTA) and also Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

The RCEP is a proposed FTA between the 10 ASEAN member states and the six countries with which ASEAN has FTAs -- Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.

On the India-Thailand FTA, Chutintorn said: "I think we need to sit down and have a talk about what we can do for each other because there is often the perception that Thailand is the only one benefiting from the early harvest of our FTA. This is because we had a surplus every year."

Stating that Thailand has no intention of blocking or not entertaining Indian service trade, he said that there is also a benefit to be had from India opening up to Thai products and services.

"We believe that a good agreement is one where we both can gain," the Ambassador stated.

On Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal's proposal for ASEAN countries open consulates in Guwahati, Chutintorn said that it is not feasible at the moment.

"To be honest, we are not rich countries and to do that, it's not a political act, it's also an economic act," he said. "To open an embassy or consulate general is a big financial commitment."

Chutintorn said the problem with India's northeastern region for industries to be located is that the size of the population of the state has to be looked at.

He said what would be most feasible would be for the northeast to engage in border trade with Myanmar once the Trilateral Highway is completed.

"In Thailand, we make so much money from border trade with Malaysia, with Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. That is what is going to make the Northeast region prosperous. And also, of course, tourism and agriculture," the Ambassador opined.

The Indian side of the ICP (Integrated Check Post) at Moreh (Manipur) on Myanmar border is expected to be ready this summer.

But it will have little impact on formal trade as India and Myanmar are yet to enter the pact for ICP-based trade. There is is no matching facility on the Myanmarese side of the border, either.

Proposed by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, the ICP projects became a non-starter from day one due to inter-ministerial issues.

To solve the tangle, the Centre proposed to create LPAI in 2010. The authority was assigned to build and manage the Indian side of the land ports. LPAI started functioning in 2012, by which time Attari ICP was complete, Akhaura was near complete and Petrapole construction had started.

One necessary evil of this legacy is a design flaw. None of the ICPs, for example, have provisions for the accommodation of the security forces. They are made to live in cargo sheds or other such makeshift facilities.

The creation of LPAI may have brought in some structure on the designing aspect, but the operational problems continued due to involvement of at least four ministries — Home, Commerce, Finance and Railways — and multiple agencies within the same ministry.

For example, immigration authorities, though under the Home Ministry, have fewer meeting points with LPAI. A proposal for building a passenger terminal, an additional parking space and an accommodation of security forces at Petrapole have been supposedly making rounds at the Home Ministry for a year.

Top officials of the Home and the Finance Ministries have been debating over a small piece of unused land held by Customs at Attari border, for the past three years. LPAI wants it to build an accommodation for security forces there; Customs doesn’t want to part with the land due to ‘sentimental’ reasons. Last but not the least, the MEA works in its own pace, which is rarely in tandem with the priorities set by LPAI or the Commerce Ministry. LPAI has completed the Jogbani ICP. But work for Biratnagar has just started. The standard reply for delays is tendering issues.

India’s cultural relation with Southeast Asia is centuries old and serves as a living link between the two regions, said the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday. Ms. Swaraj made this reference as she launched the final phase of events leading to the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit, scheduled to begin on 25 January, 2018.

“We are in South Asia and they are in Southeast Asia. So we cannot become part of their region geographically. But we have common cultural link that is not just a mere connection, but a living link. Buddhism and Ramayana connects us with the region. Indonesia, which is the biggest Muslim nation in terms of population, has the most famous Ramayana,” said Ms. Swaraj.

Earlier in the day, Ms. Swaraj welcomed the first of the ASEAN dignitaries for the summit, Foreign Minister of Brunei Pehin Lim Jock Seng. This meeting is expected to be followed by a series of bilateral meetings that will begin on Wednesday.

The meetings are held in preparation for the summit which celebrates 25th anniversary of the ASEAN-India Dialogue Partnership. The Dialogue Partnership was formed on 28 January 1992 when a Sectoral Dialogue Partnership with India was launched by ASEAN in its fourth summit in Singapore.

“Our ties, however, are not just 25 years old. Our ties stretch long back in history,” said Ms. Swaraj in her speech which was attended by several dignitaries from the region who have begun to arrive in the capital for the summit.

Stage set

Top leaders from the ten ASEAN countries will begin arriving from 11 a.m. onwards on Wednesday.

President of Vietnam Nguyen XuanPhuc will be the first to hold bilateral talks with President Ramnath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday evening. PM Modi will also hold discussions with the President of Philippines Rodrigo Duterte and the State Counsellor of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi.

New Delhi also announced a dedicated training course in highway engineering, setting up of a virtual network of universities, and pilot projects to set up digital infrastructure at the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit. Further, an ASEAN-India Startup festival will be held later this year.

The participating countries also agreed to celebrate 2019 as the year of tourism for ASEAN nations, said Ms Saran.

Apart from countering ‘traditional and non-traditional’ threats to freedom of navigation, India plans to work closely with Malaysia and Indonesia on handling radicalisation. A conference on de-radicalisation will be held soon, said the official.

“In specific discussions, that our Prime Minister had with the prime ministers of Malaysia and Indonesia, soft and hard aspects of countering terrorism through strict actions and enabling laws (were discussed),” said Ms Saran.

The India-ASEAN bonhomie will be followed by further diplomacy on Sunday when Delhi will host Cambodian leader Hun Sen for a bilateral vist.

VKumar wrote:Wait till ASEAN countries meet Indian bureaucracy.