(Download) "India and China: Rivals Or Partners in Southeast Asia?" by Contemporary Southeast Asia # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: India and China: Rivals Or Partners in Southeast Asia?
- Author : Contemporary Southeast Asia
- Release Date : January 01, 2007
- Genre: Politics & Current Events,Books,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 283 KB
Description
In the 1950s and 1960s, India was an enthusiastic promoter of Asian regionalism. As the second largest country in Asia, in 1967 India even suggested the formation of an Asian Council, believing such "a broad based economic organization of all countries in Asia should be formed so that no single country or group of countries from Asia or outside can dominate any country in Asia" (Sridharan 1996, p. 46). However, India's decision to retain the membership of the Commonwealth after its political independence indicated that India mainly conceived its development in collaboration with the Western world (Dixit 1998, p. 75). Moreover, India's incapacity and economic weakness resulted from its wrong economic policies, such as "an inward-oriented strategy of economic self-reliance through import-substitution and building heavy industries" (Nayar and Paul 2003, p. 99). Moreover, the influence of geopolitics in the Cold War era made it impossible for New Delhi to reach out beyond the Indian subcontinent and develop all-round relations with ASEAN. (1) As the Cold War ended in the early 1990s and the general trend towards regionalism emerged globally and China's influence increased in Southeast Asia, India again realized ASEAN's importance in terms of politics, economy, and diplomacy, and consequently launched its "Look East" policy, the focus of which was how to become actively engaged in Southeast Asian affairs in the changing post-Cold War era. India's involvement and growing role have brought forth different conceptions of East Asian regionalism, the impact of the India factor on future Sino-ASEAN relations, as well as the significance of China's changing perceptions of India's rise and its role in Southeast Asia, and what approaches China is and will be taking.