ASEAN-India Cooperation: Jakarta Summits
This is the first article in a four-part series focused on engagement between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Quad countries — the United States (US), Japan, India, and Australia — at various bilateral summits, the 18th East Asia Summit, and the ASEAN Indo-Pacific Forum held from 6-8 September. I parse through key speeches and statements to understand key areas of cooperation between ASEAN and the US, Australia, India, and Japan. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the 20th ASEAN-India Summit, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida the 26th ASEAN-Japan Summit, US Vice President Kamala Harris — acting in President Joe Biden’s stead — the 11th ASEAN-US Summit, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese the 3rd ASEAN-Australia Summit.
India’s engagement with ASEAN has been growing. In Jakarta, Prime Minister Modi attended the 20th ASEAN-India Summit, affirming the idea that India’s outlook on the Indo-Pacific — loosely its vision of the Indo-Pacific — aligns with that of ASEAN’s. PM Modi’s speech underscored the following tenets of the ASEAN-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) that was signed in 2022:
ASEAN is the central pillar of India’s Act East Policy, and holds a place in India’s Indo-Pacific Ocean Initiative (IPOI)
India supports ASEAN centrality — the idea that ASEAN is the centre and the driver of the regional architectural order — as well as ASEAN’s Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP)
That the 21st century was Asia’s century
ASEAN and India’s common interest lay in the “progress of free and open Indo-Pacific” and “elevating the Voice of Global South”
Cooperation with ASEAN was important in areas like maritime cooperation
With regard towards their practical cooperation, Modi’s 12-point plan includes initiatives to enhance infrastructure connectivity linking Southeast Asia, India, West Asia, and Europe, enhance digital and financial connectivity, strengthen maritime cooperation (maritime safety, security and domain awareness), disaster management, climate change, and the energy transition.
ASEAN and India notably also released a joint statement on maritime cooperation. The areas under consideration were:
Trafficking in persons and smuggling of arms and drugs
Terrorism, Piracy and armed robbery against ships
Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing
Marine pollution, through enhanced global and regional cooperation
The joint statement also mentions their bilateral cooperation must include areas like Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations; Search and Rescue (SAR) operations; early warning systems for weather change; information sharing and capacity building in the maritime domain; strengthening cooperation through specialised regional bodies; cooperation in blue economy in numerous areas; enhancing ASEAN-India Space Cooperation with maritime-related applications.
ASEAN’s statement on the summit (“Chairman’s Statement”) underscored the areas that ASEAN-India cooperation extended to, as well as bolstering their bilateral partnership in key areas. These areas and domains include:
Strengthening the ASEAN-India economic partnership included upholding the multilateral trading system, enhancing regional economic integration, and underscoring the importance of multilateralism and free trade
In this vein, the statement notes four priorities that are key to enhancing ASEAN’s economic partnership with external partners, including with India: strengthening ASEAN market integration (i.e. economic partnerships that unify ASEAN markets); sustainability and decarbonisation; and lastly, inclusivity, including Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs); focus on public-private sector engagement, women empowerment in particular decision making and entrepreneurship, and people-to-people contacts
Within trade, the statement notes the progress of a review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA), aiming to make it more user-friendly and simple, and intending to increase trade between their markets and support sustainable and inclusive growth
ASEAN reiterated “its desire for India to reconsider its decision on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)”, i.e. its decision to not join the agreement and exit from negotiations in 2019
On cooperation on food security, a joint statement was released, discussing how ASEAN and India can jointly pursue efficient supply in the food trade supply chain despite disruptions
In FinTech (“Financial Technology”), ASEAN and India discussed collaboration to build financial connectivity through digital payments; in this vein, India announced a “Fund for Digital Future” as well as proposed the establishment of an ASEAN-India Annual Financial Dialogue
Cooperation in the digital domain would focus on enhancing capacity-building initiatives in areas that help develop an open and secure cyberspace. Both parties also “[looked] forward” to establishing a proposed Track 1 ASEAN-India Cyber Dialogue
On cooperation in areas of Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI), ASEAN and India noted the implementation of several initiatives under progress
Within the space sector, both recognized India’s efforts towards the establishment of Tracking, Data Reception and Processing Stations in Vietnam and Indonesia
In collaboration on achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ASEAN “welcomed” India’s interest in collaborating with the ASEAN Centre for Sustainable Development Studies and Dialogues (ACSDSD)
On physical connectivity, the statement noted synergies between the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity (MPAC) 2025 and India’s Act East Policy; ASEAN and India will focus on enhancing cooperation in transport and connectivity in land, air, and maritime sectors, including focusing on the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway and its “possible extension to Lao PDR, Cambodia, and Vietnam.”
ASEAN and India also discussed the South China Sea — its “benefits” as a sea of peace, stability, friendship, prosperity, and cooperation, and aiming to further steps in achieving that; they also discussed development in Myanmar and addressing its political crisis.
Other areas discussed include cooperation in promoting culture and arts, innovation in the pharmaceutical sector, collaboration in preparedness and response to the pandemic and public health emergencies; and education exchange.
Finally, in his statement at the 18th East Asia Summit, Modi spoke regarding emerging concerns in the Indo-Pacific:
It was imperative that everyone adhered to international laws; everyone’s commitment and joint efforts were necessary to strengthen the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries; important that UNCLOS applies equally to all countries; that the Code of Conduct for the South China Sea under negotiation between ASEAN and China be effective and in accordance with UNCLOS
Multilateralism and the rules-based global order essential for countering challenges such as terrorism, extremism, and geopolitical conflicts; need to focus on challenges particularly impacting the Global South.
