India–ASEAN Relations: Riding and Transcending the “Indo-Pacific” Wave

This paper surveys India–ASEAN relations since the late 1990s amid the ongoing quest for a new regional compact in a post-pandemic era to advance India’s growing security and economic interests in Southeast Asia. During the cold war, India preferred to engage bilaterally with Southeast Asian countries than engage ASEAN directly. This tack shifted after 2000 as new security challenges arrived, particularly the need to secure the Indian Ocean. India’s overtures with ASEAN and ASEAN states grew alongside defense cooperation, which are now being renewed and renegotiated under the “Indo-Pacific” rubric despite differences over how India and ASEAN states regard the concept. Economic liberalization changed India’s calculus in the 1980s, which led to a series of overtures to economically tether India to the ASEAN. India–ASEAN trade grew dramatically over the last decade but fears abound over whether India’s rejection of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement will reverse its economic footprint in Southeast Asia. Given both security and economic differences between India and the ASEAN, opportunities exist in joining to address shared transnational challenges like cybersecurity and counterterrorism.