India and South East Asia

The ASEAN region along with India together comprises a combined population of 1.85 billion people, which is one-fourth of the global population and their combined GDP has been estimated at over USD 3.8 trillion. So the East Asia Region is most important for India and vice versa.

Imagining India in Southeast Asia is often guided and influenced by a number of factors. It may depend on how the contemporary global and the regional media views and portrays the Indian sub-continent through various news on religious dissensions, political rivalries, border disputes, terrorist attacks, and many other aspects that usually govern the ratings of the highly competitive and numerous television channels.

The perceptions of India may also be formed by a substantial Indian diaspora in different parts of Southeast Asia who may have migrated to the region in different periods of history under different compulsions or opportunities. These migrants have kept alive their ethnic identity through marrying each other, and nostalgic homeland memories handed over to succeeding generations. The “India” in Southeast Asia is also viewed through the lenses of colonial trappings and long-lasting legacies of discrimination and domination: specifically British hegemony over all of South Asia (present day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Afghanistan) and many parts of Southeast Asia (modern Malaysia, Myanmar and Singapore) British played a substantial part in creating narratives of the Indian population focusing upon jobs “typical Indians” do, cradling racially demarcated enclaves in everyday lived spaces, and consciously determining a minority status for Indians through strategic migration policies, established an identity of the “other” that had long lasting legacies in postcolonial times.

Perceiving “India” or “Indians” through any of these prisms constraints the ability and the willingness to comprehend the development, complexities, and diversities of the idea of “India” that has had a civilizational background of more than 5,000 years. With rapid economic changes and globalization, particularly in the latter part of the twentieth century and at present, there is also an increasing consciousness in Southeast Asia and elsewhere, of an emerging India, its dynamic, tech-savvy and globetrotting professionals and entrepreneurs, the highly acclaimed Indian spiritualism and yoga culture, and perhaps the only counter-option to China’s growing potential regional dominance.

Indian words like “karma,” “yoga,” “guru,” have been easily incorporated in everyday popular speech in Southeast Asia and across the globe. In Southeast Asia, the numerical strength of the Chinese diaspora is much stronger than the Indian diaspora making the cultural familiarity with China much more aligned to the growing assertiveness of China in the south China sea and East Asia. Geographically, the largely archipelagic southeast Asia has been a meeting ground of both Indian and Chinese cultures for well over a 1,000 years and has blended with unique indigenous features that characterize most of the southeast Asian states. Thus, many Southeast Asians view India with mixed feelings; both with a sense of a deep-rooted cultural connections, but also with a lack of understanding of India and Indians beyond what the media makes superficially visible. This makes teaching and learning about India both interesting as well as challenging in many ways. in the essay that follows, I address the different aspects of connections and disconnections between India and southeast Asia and the relevance of mutual appreciation in the context of a resurging Asia.

It would be inappropriate to say that the Indians alone contributed to the culture of their neighbours – it was two-way traffic. For instance, Indians learnt the art of growing silk from China, acquired the craft of minting gold coins from the Greeks and the Romans, learnt the art of growing betel leaves from Indonesia. Similarly, the techniques of growing cotton spread from India to China and central Asia. However, Indians contributed more in terms of art, religion, script and language. With the decline of trade with the west, the trade with Asian countries and China grew steadily till the 12th century.

About 15^th East Asia Summit

15th East Asia Summit was held recently with VietNam as a chair and concluded with the adoption of the Hanoi Declaration. External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar represented India at the 15th East Asia Summit (EAS).

 About East Asia Summit:

It was established in 2005. It is a premier forum in the Asia-Pacific region dealing with issues relating to security and defense with the following features;

• Members: It comprises the ten member states of the ASEAN countries along with 8 members Australia, China, Japan, India, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Russia, and the United States. India is a founding member of the East Asia Summit. (In short ASEAN Plus Six, USA, and Russia).
• Priority Areas: There are six priority areas of regional cooperation within the framework of the EAS which are a) Environment and Energy b) Education c) Finance d) Global Health Issues and Pandemic Diseases e) Natural Disaster Management and f) ASEAN Connectivity.
• Significance:
  • The members of the EAS together represent 54% of the world population and account for 58% of the global GDP.
  • It is usually held just after the second ASEAN summit of the year when the ASEAN also meets its dialogue partners.
  • They also meet for ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM) Plus meet.

Colonial Disruptions and the Post-colonial Disconnect

The period of colonial expansion (approximately sixteenth to twentieth centuries) in most of south and Southeast Asia created major disruptions in age-old connectivities. While Britain colonized Burma, Malaysia and Singapore, France dominated Indochina (Việt nam, Laos and Cambodia), The Netherlands controlled Indonesia, and Spain colonized the Philippines. Colonization ushered in new political structures that were hegemonic and discriminatory to indigenous populations. it implemented new economic models and institutions that introduced a labor-intensive plantation economy, commercialized agriculture, and the connection of these economic institutions’ produce to global demand and supply networks. it demarcated new territorial boundaries, separating communities and cultures that had co-existed for several or multiple generations.

Colonial rule also facilitated and strategized large movement of peoples across the bay of Bengal. between 1840 and 1940, about 8 million people traveled from India to Ceylon ( now Sri Lanka), and about 4 million to Malaya and 12 to 15 million to Burma, with approximately half of them returning within three to seven years.¹⁰ at the same time, Western domination brought access to European languages, modern technology, advanced communication links, and familiarity with Western political ideologies. Particularly from the 1920s and 1930s, there was an increasing sense of intellectual connections throughout Asia arousing anti-colonial feelings and nationalist sentiments, and an awareness of mostly peaceful and rich historical exchanges. Several Indian nationalist leaders traveled to southeast Asia including Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, P. J. Mehta, and Periyar e.v. Ramasamy (commonly known as Periyar.) Subhas Chandra Bose, the Indian freedom fighter, established his base in Singapore and proclaimed the azad hind Government (free government of India) under his leadership in 1942. he inspired sympathy and affection from the people of different sections of society, particularly in the Malayan peninsula and Burma. Bose established the Indian national army and the first all women army, the Rani of Jhansi regiment, the only one ever established for the Indian Anti-British struggle.¹¹ Though his clarion call to “March to Delhi” (Delhi Chalo) was not successful and eventually suppressed by the British, Bose effectively empowered large populations of oppressed people with ideas of self-awakening and self-respect that had long-term effects in the political movements of the Malayan peninsula.

• Central Asia was a great centre of Indian culture in the early centuries of the Christian era.
  • In Afghanistan, many statues of Buddha and monasteries have been discovered.
  • The ivory work found in Begram (Afghanistan) is similar to Indian workmanship in Kushan times. Buddhism continued to be followed in Afghanistan till the 7th century CE when it was supplanted by Islam.
  • Indian culture had also spread to Tibet and China through central Asia.
• China was influenced both by the land route passing through central Asia and the sea route through Burma (Myanmar).
  • Buddhism reached China at the beginning of the first century CE and from there it spread to Japan and Korea.
  • A number of Chinese pilgrims like Fa-Hein, Hsuan Tsang, I-Tsing came to India and hundreds of Buddhist monks visited China.
  • With the decline of the Roman empire, China had become the main focus of trade in the Indian ocean.
  • The main sea-port for foreign trade in China during this period was Canton or Kanfu (as the Arab travellers called it).
  • In Canton itself, there were three Brahmana temples in which Indian Brahmanas resided.
  • The Indian rulers – the Palas and the Sena rulers of Bengal, the Pallava and the Chola rulers of south India encouraged trade relations by sending a series of embassies to the Chinese emperors.
  • The contact with China continued even after the Mongols established their empire in China. The dynasty they established was the Yuan Dynasty  (13th century).
• The Sailendra empire emerged as the important empire in southeast Asia in the 8th century and it comprised Java (which was called Suvarnadvipa or the island of gold by the ancient Indians), Sumatra, the Malay peninsula and other parts of the Southeast Asian region.
  • On account of their geographical position, they controlled the trade between China and India as well as other countries in the west.
  • The Sailendra rulers were Mahayana Buddhists and maintained cordial relations with the Palas of Bengal and the Cholas of Tamil Nadu.
  • Rajaraja Ⅰ – Chola king allowed the Sailendra king – Maravijayottungavarman to build a Buddhist monastery at Nagapattinam (Tamil Nadu).
  • Under the patronage of the Sailendras, the greatest monument was built at Barabodur in Java.
  • It is situated at the top of a hill and consists of nine successive terraces, crowned by a bell-shaped stupa at the centre of the topmost terrace.
  • The ruins of hundreds of temples and manuscripts in Sanskrit are found in Java.
• In Indo-China (at present divided into Vietnam, Kampuchea and Laos), the Indians set up two powerful kingdoms in Kamboja (Cambodia) and Champa.
  • The powerful kingdom of Kamboja (modern Kampuchea) was founded in the 6th century CE.
  • Its rulers were followers of Shiva and developed Kamboja as a centre of Sanskrit learning and a number of inscriptions were composed in this language.
  • Champa is situated in the east of Kamboja. Under its Hindu rulers, the Hindu culture, religion, customs were introduced in Champa.
  • Shaivism and Vaishnavism flourished and it was considered to be a great centre of education in Vedas and Dharmashastras.
• Indian settlements in the Indian ocean continued till the 13th century. Many temples were built and the most famous was the Angkor Wat temple built by Suryavarman Ⅱ in his capital city Angkor (Kambhoja). The sculptures in the temple depict the episodes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
• The cultural contacts between India and Burma (Myanmar) date back to the period of Ashoka, who sent his missionaries there to preach Buddhism.

Initiatives taken to improve the relationship

• We Shifted our policy from Look East Policy to Act East policy in 2014 with more active engagement in the region. Act East Policy includes the following features:
  • To promote economic cooperation, develop a strategic relationship and cultural ties with ASEAN and East Asian Countries
  • To increase the interaction of the North-Eastern states with other neighboring countries.
  • Focussing on 4 C’s (Culture, Commerce, Connectivity and Capacity Building)
• Delhi Dialogue is a premier annual event to discuss politico-security, the economic and socio-cultural engagement between India and ASEAN.
• Joint Naval and Military exercises between East Asian countries Ex. India and Vietnam held a joint naval exercise
• India – Myanmar – Thailand trilateral highway project which connects Moreh, India with Mae Sot, Thailand via Myanmar.
• Kaladan project connects Sittwe Port in Myanmar to the India-Myanmar border. It will reduce the distance from Kolkata to Sittwe by approximately 1328 km and will reduce the need to transport goods through the narrow Siliguri corridor.
• India is developing its maiden deep-sea port in a strategically-located Sabang port in Indonesia.
• India is also trying to establish a Maritime Transportation Agreement with ASEAN and also Plans for a railway link between New Delhi in India to Hanoi in Vietnam.

Importance of India to East Asia:

• India’s long trustworthy relationship and reliability in relationships can help in countering the Chinese Influence in the region and can act as a counterweight in the issues like South China Sea Disputes etc.
• Since VietNam and other countries are getting improved in merchandise trade, India is a good market for those countries
• India’s strategic location links the East Asian Countries with the Central Asian Countries.
• India’s ability to provide Humanitarian and Disaster Relief (HADR)
• India’s Service sector, growing Tourism market, etc all are important for East Asian Countries.

Challenges in India and East Asia Relations:

• Trade imbalance between India and ASEAN, which remains skewed in ASEAN’s favor. India’s trade deficit with ASEAN increased from a mere USD$0.5 billion in 2005-2006 to USD$14.6 billion in 2015-2016.
• India has not signed RCEP for various reasons like non-transparency in RCEP, RCEP’s non-accounting of India’s service sector relaxations, etc. By not signing the RCEP India also lose access to new market opportunities created in East Asia.

Looking Forward

The interconnectedness that had prevailed for around 2,000 years between south and southeast asia and was altered into a sense of “otherness” in the post-colonial period has been resurrected again with renewed convergences between states and peoples through soft power approaches, revisiting historical interactions, exploring new markets, mutual economic interests and addressing common strategic concerns. The ideological connection of the “Suvarnabhumi” (the land of gold referred to in ancient Indian texts) has been energized in popular imagination through people-to-people exchanges, rising tourism activities and recollection of historical and cultural linkages. southeast Asian Buddhists are tied to their pilgrimage sites in India that remain an important source of connectivity. improved political and economic relations, including investment and free trade opportunities, also facilitate them.

Foreign policy relations between India and most ASEAN states are highly positive with increasing attempts to leverage on mutual complementarities. Yet, China’s assertive approach in the south China sea and the ambitious BRI project has oriented most of the region’s attention to the Asian giant. India is a nuclear-armed nation (with a declared no first use policy), but one that also engages in strong soft-power approaches, while not neglecting alternative and counter force as a part of the Quad to apprehensive and unsure about southeast Asia since choices are not easy to make. approaching Indian interactions beyond the compulsions of geopolitics may prove to be in the long-term interests of the region, Asia, and the World. it has possibilities in providing new paradigms of pedagogy, policy, and research beyond zonal demarcations with fresh academic discourses based on alliances and allegiances, experiences, and imagination between India and Southeast Asia, perhaps contributing to unrealized innovative international policies.