Shaping and Developments of India’s “Look East” and “Act East” Policy

Анотація

The recent concept of Indo-Pacific region reveals increasing India’s engagement with the Southeast Asian and Asia Pacific nations, as a result of its “Look East” and “Act East” Policy. This research intends to clarify the essence of this policy, its major goals, directions and moving forces, continuity and changes during its different stages, and preliminary results. As a result of this study, we identified four stages in the implementation of “Look East”/“Act East” Policy: 1992–2000; 2000–2010; 2010–2014; since 2014. The shifts were mostly caused by external factors, namely, by regional policy of China and the initiatives of other regional states. Originally, the policy was aimed at development of trade and economic cooperation with Southeast Asian nations. The new direction of this policy, starting from 2000, included India’s engagement with Japan. Since 2010, India has increasingly expanded its strategic and security cooperation with Southeast Asian and Asia Pacific nations. The new stage of this policy under the title “Act East”, launched by N. Modi government (since 2014), was more results-oriented; its geography and strategic dimension expanded. These transformations demonstrated India’s adaptation to new international environment, including “opening” of Myanmar, increasing tensions in the South China Sea and growing China’s influence in India’s neighbouring countries. In the security area, Indian government strengthened cooperation with Japan, the U.S., Australia and some ASEAN nations to protect rules-based regional order. Simultaneously, it balanced relations with these regional partners and China. In trade and economic area, India’s greater regional involvement produced mixed results. On the one hand, India benefited from Japan’s concessional loans on infrastructural projects, including the northeast region, as well as from Japan and Republic of Korea’s direct investments. On the other hand, trade liberalization with ASEAN, Japan and Republic of Korea caused increasing India’s trade deficit. For this reason, Indian government initiated re-negotiation of its free trade agreements and withdrew from negotiations on Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

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