Strategic Imperatives of India as an Emerging Player in Pacific Asia

Abstract

India's links to the Pacific have gradually emerged in the last decade. Initially this was seen in the Look East policy enunciated in the early 1990s. This policy was rather limited in scope in terms of its emphasis mostly on economic relations with the ASEAN countries. However, the last decade has seen India move beyond such ASEAN, Southeast Asia economic horizons. Its Look East policy has entered ‘phase-2’. Consequently, India has become further involved in military-security power projection, particularly through naval deployments and maritime diplomacy. India has also moved into wider East Asia (Pacific Asia) and Pacific Basin (southern Pacific) settings. In doing so rivalry with China is evident, as is balancing with other Pacific actors like Japan and the US. Whilst India's drive in the Indian Ocean remains more noticeable and manifest, this has spilled further eastwards. India has thus become a Pacific player and a factor within the Pacific Asia balance of power.