
Fulltext download: Asia Insights 03
Quad v/s Act East Policy: A Cautious India Needs to Move Closer to Regional/Sub-regional Initiatives
By Sampa Kundu (Assistant Professor, Symbiosis School of International Studies, India)
November 2018 witnessed few significant developments with regard to India’s Act East Policy and India’s broader approach to the Indo-Pacific. The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Singapore to attend the ASEANIndia Breakfast Summit, 13th East Asia Summit (EAS), 2nd Regional Comprehensive Economic Cooperation (RCEP) Summit and other meetings related to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Mr. Modi specifically mentioned about the broader canvass of India’s approach towards Indo-Pacific and India’s Act East Policy (AEP) where ASEAN plays a central role in the Summits and meetings that he attended in Singapore. The AEP and India’s approach to the Indo-Pacific seem to be complimentary to each other as both these policies reiterate about India’s reinvigorated involvement in the geo-strategic affairs of the wider construct of the Indo-Pacific. However, the question remains, whether the four-country Quad forum, which seems to be one of the visible outcomes of the construct of the Indo-Pacific, has been received well by the ASEAN countries….(for fulltext, please download AI-03)
Dr. Sampa Kundu is Assistant Professor, Symbiosis School of International Studies, India. She can be reached via: sampa.sun@gmail.com