India’s Look East Policy got a strategic tenor with the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s defining speech at the East Asia Summit, India ASEAN annual summit and Dr Manmohan Singh’s visit to Indonesia. Of these, East Asia Summit is a unique Leaders-led forum of 18 countries of the Asia-Pacific region to further the objectives of regional peace, security and prosperity. It has evolved as a forum for strategic dialogue and cooperation on political, security and economic issues of common regional concern and plays an important role in the regional architecture.
Established in 2005, EAS allows the principal players in the Asia-Pacific region to discuss issues of common interest. The membership of EAS consists of ten ASEAN Member States (i.e. Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam), Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation and the USA. EAS is an initiative of ASEAN and is based on the premise of the centrality of ASEAN. Thus this adds to the strategic partnership between India and ASEAN. There are six priority areas of regional cooperation within the framework of the EAS. These are – energy and environment, finance, education, natural disaster management, pandemics and connectivity. India endorses regional collaboration in all six priority areas.
India’s Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh highlighted India’s strong commitment to the EAS at the 8th East Asia summit in Brunei Darussalam. Apart from underlining economic, energy and cultural congruity, on security issues, the Prime Minister stated, “A stable maritime environment is essential to realize our collective regional aspirations. We should reaffirm the principles of maritime security, including the right of passage and unimpeded commerce, in accordance with international law, and peaceful settlement of maritime disputes. We welcome the collective commitment by the concerned countries to abide by and implement the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and to work towards the adoption of a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea on the basis of consensus. We also welcome the establishment of the Expanded ASEAN Maritime Forum for developing maritime norms that would reinforce existing international law relating to maritime security.
Disaster management is another defining initiative of the EAS security sector dialogue, the Prime Minister said, “Cooperative mechanisms in disaster management would not only fulfill a humanitarian need, but also foster broader confidence and cooperation in the region. India has initiated the process of establishing a Virtual Knowledge Centre as well as a network of round-the-clock Points of Contact among EAS countries. We hope to strengthen these initiatives further with your support. We should also strengthen efforts to counter threats of piracy, international terrorism, transnational crimes and drug trafficking”.
Supporting India’s strategic initiatives in South East Asia was expansion of India Indonesia defence and space cooperation. Indonesia is the largest of ASEAN states and is a maritime neighbor of India. Jakarta is viewed as the centre of gravity of South East Asia with much of the politics and diplomacy revolving around it. Thus India-Indonesia coagulation will be a defining partnership in the region.
The long time taken to expand engagement with Indonesia India’s maritime neighbor is evident as this was the first bilateral visit by the Indian Prime Minister in the last 10 years to the country. Ironically Indonesia like India is due for elections in 2014 and President Yudhoyono is due to demit office. Dr Manmohan Singh is also unlikely to continue as his Party the Congress is facing strong anti incumbency.
The Joint Statement on the visit of Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to Jakarta after a meeting with President of Indonesia, Dr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono outlined the contours of the relationship on 11 October. On Defence cooperation, the Joint Statement indicated, “The Leaders reaffirmed that India and Indonesia as strategic partners and maritime neighbours with a common interest in the maintenance of regional peace and security must work to further strengthen and broaden the already robust defence cooperation. They noted with satisfaction that the commencement of the Defence Ministers’ Dialogue and regular convening of the Joint Defence Cooperation Committee (JDCC) Meetings and Staff Talks established between the Armies and the Navies of the two countries have resulted in enhancement of defence cooperation between the two countries. The two sides agreed to enhance exchanges between their respective Air Forces, including the establishment of Staff Talks, as necessary. They also agreed to continue sharing of information and intelligence, as well as to increase the frequency of exchanges, training and joint exercises, including among Special Forces. They decided to explore collaboration in sale and co-production of defence equipment, mutually agreed defence-related research activities and training and capacity building cooperation between both sides.
The two sides have agreed to establish linkages between the Center for UN Peacekeeping (CUNPK) of India and the Indonesia Peace and Security Center (IPSC) on United Nations Peacekeeping. They have also stressed the importance of closer collaboration on capacity building and exchange of best practices in the field of maritime security and hold joint exercises. They also agreed to enhance the existing cooperation and capacity building in the fields of hydrography, joint surveys, and maritime domain awareness.
On terrorism cooperation it stated, “Recognizing the common threats to national security from global terrorism and other transnational crimes, the Leaders resolved to significantly enhance bilateral cooperation in combating terrorism, terrorist financing, money laundering, arms smuggling, trafficking in human beings, and cyber crime. They reiterated the shared commitment to enhance liaison between the intelligence and law enforcement agencies of both countries and to provide each other with assistance, where needed, to fight these menaces. They commended the Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism, which has met regularly. They welcomed the signing of the MoU on Combating Illicit Trafficking in Narcotics, Drugs, Psychotropic Substances and its Precursors. They directed relevant Agencies from both sides to launch a dialogue on cyber security issues”.
On Space Cooperation the joint statement said, “The Leaders acknowledged the increasing intensity of collaboration between the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space of Indonesia (LAPAN). They encouraged LAPAN and ISRO to expedite the conclusion of the Inter-Governmental Framework Agreement on Cooperation in the Exploration and Uses of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes with a broader scope to replace the 2002 MoU on Cooperation in the field of Outer Space Research and Development, as well as the Agreement on Transfer of Title of the Integrated Biak Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TTC) Station, and the Implementing Agreement for the Utilisation of the Biak TTC Facility for ISRO’s Satellite and Launch Vehicles Programmes. Indonesia welcomed India’s offer of further up-gradation of the Biak TTC - to receive data from its OceanSat and ResourceSat satellites that have applications in hydrography, weather forecasting, disaster management, crop forecasting and resource mapping; and training programmes for Indonesian officials at the Center for Space Science Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific (CSSTEAP), under ASEAN-India Space Cooperation project. ISRO and LAPAN would work towards launch of Indonesian micro satellites into space using Indian launch vehicles”.
This Article first appeared on Security Risks and is reposted here under a Creative Commons license.