Lesson 71 of 76 7 min Premium

India, Japan, Australia, ASEAN and the Indo-Pacific

The Indo-Pacific idea

The term "Indo-Pacific" treats the Indian and Pacific Oceans as a single strategic space. Japanese PM Shinzo Abe popularised it in his "Confluence of the Two Seas" speech to the Indian Parliament in 2007. India's vision was set out by PM Modi at the Shangri-La Dialogue in 2018: a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific, with ASEAN centrality, respect for international law (especially UNCLOS), freedom of navigation, and no targeting of any country. India's Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI, 2019) has seven pillars:

maritime security;
maritime ecology;
maritime resources;
capacity building and resource sharing;
disaster risk reduction and management;
science, technology and academic cooperation;
trade connectivity and maritime transport.

Map of the Indo-Pacific highlighting India, Japan, Australia, ASEAN countries, South Korea and Pacific island partners — India's Indo-Pacific vision stresses ASEAN centrality and an open, inclusive regional order.

Partner countries lead different pillars.

From Look East to Act East

Look East Policy (1991), under P.V. Narasimha Rao: an economic focus on South-East Asia after liberalisation.
India became a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1992, a full dialogue partner in 1996, a summit-level partner in 2002, a Strategic Partner in 2012, and a Comprehensive Strategic Partner in 2022.
Act East Policy (2014): added security, connectivity, culture and the north-east dimension, and extended the focus to East Asia and the Pacific.
ASEAN–India Free Trade Area: goods agreement 2009 (in force 2010); services and investment agreements 2014. A review of the goods agreement (AITIGA) began in 2023 because India's trade deficit with ASEAN has widened.
India is a member of the East Asia Summit (since 2005), the ASEAN Regional Forum (since 1996) and ADMM-Plus.

Timeline of India-ASEAN relations from Look East 1991 to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership 2022 — Each upgrade widened the relationship from trade to security and connectivity.

Key South-East Asian partners:

Vietnam: Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (2016); defence lines of credit; oil exploration in the South China Sea.
Indonesia: shared maritime boundary near the Andaman Sea; the Sabang port; Indonesian President Prabowo was chief guest on Republic Day 2025.
Singapore: the largest source of FDI into India; UPI–PayNow linkage (2023); semiconductor partnership.
Philippines: BrahMos purchase; India supports the 2016 arbitral award on the South China Sea.
Thailand and Malaysia.

Connectivity: the Trilateral Highway and the Kaladan project link the north-east to South-East Asia.

India–Japan: a "Special Strategic and Global Partnership"

Japan is one of India's most trusted partners. Ties go back to Buddhism. Justice Radhabinod Pal dissented at the Tokyo war crimes tribunal, a gesture remembered in Japan. Milestones:

Global Partnership (2000).
Strategic and Global Partnership (2006).
Special Strategic and Global Partnership (2014).
Annual summits.
A civil nuclear agreement (2016), notable because Japan is the only country hit by atomic bombs and India is not an NPT signatory.

Development assistance: Japan is India's largest bilateral ODA donor. Its projects include:

the Delhi Metro;
the Dedicated Freight Corridor (Western);
the Mumbai–Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (Shinkansen technology);
the Delhi–Mumbai Industrial Corridor;
north-east connectivity, via the India–Japan Act East Forum.

Security:

2+2 dialogue (2019).
The Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (2020).
Exercises: JIMEX (navy), Dharma Guardian (army), Veer Guardian (air force); Japan is part of Malabar.
A Japanese investment target of ¥5 trillion (2022–27), superseded by a larger target of ¥10 trillion over ten years, announced in 2025.
Cooperation on semiconductors and critical minerals, the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (with Australia, 2021), and skilled workers ("Specified Skilled Worker" programme).

India–Australia

Relations were cool during the Cold War and after Pokhran-II, when Australia imposed sanctions. They have since transformed:

Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (2020).
Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (2020).
The India–Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), in force from December 2022. A broader CECA is under negotiation.
Australia sells uranium to India under a 2014 civil nuclear agreement.
Cooperation on critical minerals (lithium and cobalt; an investment partnership of 2022), education (Deakin and Wollongong universities have campuses in GIFT City), and migration and mobility (MATES scheme).
Exercises: AUSINDEX (navy) and AustraHind (army). Australia rejoined Malabar in 2020.

Pacific islands and the wider region

The Forum for India–Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) was launched in Fiji in 2014. Its third summit was held in Papua New Guinea in 2023, where India announced a 12-point plan covering health, renewable energy and desalination. South Korea: Special Strategic Partnership (2015) and a CEPA (2010), with an upgrade under negotiation; it is a K9 Vajra howitzer partner. Taiwan: India has no diplomatic relations, but there are economic links, especially in semiconductors and electronics (Foxconn and others).

Challenges

Trade deficits with ASEAN, Japan and Korea, and the decision not to join RCEP (2019).
Slow delivery of connectivity projects.
Divergent threat perceptions among ASEAN members on China.
Limited naval capacity relative to the area to be covered.
Balancing the Quad with ASEAN's preference for inclusivity.

Practice: Mains question

*"Act East Policy has added strategic depth to India's engagement with South-East and East Asia, but economic integration lags behind." Examine. (250 words)*

The South China Sea and India's stake

More than half of India's trade with East Asia passes through the South China Sea. China's expansive "nine-dash line" claims were rejected by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Philippines v China (2016) under UNCLOS. China rejects the award. India has called for freedom of navigation and overflight, peaceful resolution of disputes, and an effective, substantive Code of Conduct consistent with UNCLOS. In 2023 India for the first time explicitly called for adherence to the 2016 arbitral award in a joint statement with the Philippines. ONGC Videsh's exploration blocks off Vietnam have faced Chinese objections.

Minilateral groupings

India increasingly works through small groups:

Quad: India, US, Japan, Australia.
India–France–Australia trilateral.
India–Japan–Australia Supply Chain Resilience Initiative.
India–Indonesia–Australia trilateral.
India–Japan–US trilateral.

Minilaterals are flexible and issue-specific and avoid the slow consensus of large bodies. Critics see them as diluting ASEAN centrality.

The north-east as gateway

The Act East Policy explicitly links foreign policy to the development of the north-eastern states. Infrastructure such as the Agartala–Akhaura rail link, the Kaladan project and the Trilateral Highway, together with border haats and economic zones, aims to turn the region from a "landlocked periphery" into a "gateway to South-East Asia". The Japan–India Act East Forum funds roads, bridges and hydropower in the north-east. Insurgency, the Manipur conflict (from 2023) and Myanmar's civil war have, however, slowed progress.

Common prelims traps

ASEAN has ten members; Timor-Leste was admitted as the eleventh member in 2025.
RCEP: 15 members, not including India.
The East Asia Summit has 18 members, including India, the US and Russia.
Andaman and Nicobar Command (2001) is India's only tri-service theatre command and is close to the Malacca Strait.

Model answer outline

Introduction: trace the evolution from Look East (1991) to Act East (2014).

Body:

Strategic depth: security ties with Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia; defence exports such as BrahMos; Quad and minilateral groupings; HADR in the region (relief after Cyclone Nargis in 2008 and the Myanmar earthquake in 2025).
Economic lag: trade deficits with ASEAN; the AITIGA review; staying out of RCEP; slow connectivity projects; limited Indian FDI in the region.

Conclusion: complete the connectivity projects, conclude the AITIGA review, link the north-east to value chains, and use digital public infrastructure (UPI links) as a new economic bridge.

⚡ Quick revision

Indo-Pacific: Abe "Confluence of Two Seas" 2007; Modi Shangri-La 2018; IPOI 2019 (7 pillars)
Look East 1991 → Act East 2014; ASEAN: sectoral 1992, full 1996, summit 2002, strategic 2012, CSP 2022; AIFTA 2009/2010; AITIGA review 2023
Japan: SSGP 2014; nuclear deal 2016; MAHSR; ACSA 2020; JIMEX, Dharma Guardian; largest ODA donor
Australia: CSP 2020; MLSA 2020; ECTA (Dec 2022); uranium; AUSINDEX
FIPIC 2014 (Fiji); SCRI 2021 (India–Japan–Australia)

The Indo-Pacific is the strategic idea that the Indian Ocean and the western and central Pacific form a single, connected region for trade, security and diplomacy. India's vision, set out in 2018, calls for a free, open and inclusive region with ASEAN at its centre.The Union legislature: the President, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha (Article 79). Full coverage: Parliament (module).A Union Territory of more than 800 islands, islets and rocks in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, stretching roughly north to south, separated into the Andaman group in the north and the Nicobar group in the south by the Ten Degree Channel; the capital is Sri Vijaya Puram (formerly Port Blair).Investment by a non-resident that gives a lasting interest and a meaningful say in the management of an Indian enterprise, conventionally treated as a holding of 10% or more of a listed company's equity, as distinct from short-term portfolio flows.A real-time, mobile-first payment system built and run by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) that lets anyone move money between bank accounts instantly using a virtual address, a phone number or a QR code.Materials such as silicon whose electrical conductivity lies between conductors and insulators, used to make chips that power phones, computers, cars and defence systems; India is building a chip industry through the India Semiconductor Mission.Religion and philosophy founded by Gautama Buddha in the 6th–5th century BCE, centred on the Four Noble Truths. Full coverage: Buddhism: Life of the Buddha, Teachings, Councils and Spread.The NPT (1968) and the CTBT (1996) are the two main global treaties on nuclear weapons. The NPT limits nuclear weapons to five recognised states and promotes disarmament and peaceful use; the CTBT bans all nuclear test explosions but has not entered into force. India has signed neither, calling them discriminatory.Energy from sources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale, such as sunlight, wind, flowing water, biomass, geothermal heat and the tides, as opposed to finite fossil fuels.The Quad, or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, is a diplomatic partnership of Australia, India, Japan and the United States that works for a "free, open and inclusive" Indo-Pacific through cooperation on maritime security, health, critical technologies, infrastructure, climate and disaster response.A code of ethics states the broad values and principles an organisation or profession aspires to; a code of conduct lays down specific, enforceable rules of behaviour, with penalties for breach.A narrow sea lane between the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra that links the Indian Ocean with the South China Sea; one of the world's busiest shipping chokepoints, close to India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands.