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Showing posts with the label Indian Look East Policy

Manipur and India’s ‘Act East’ Policy ( Source- The Diplomat / Author- Edmund Downie)

Imphal Airport ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Herojith) Source- The Diplomat Author- Edmund Downie Since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in May, he has sought to project to foreign-policy watchers a renewed commitment to India’s Look East Policy (LEP) – or, as Modi’s administration has renamed it, the “Act East Policy.” The LEP was put forward in 1991 to reorient Indian foreign policy towards East Asia and Southeast Asia. But half-hearted commitment to the policy has severely restricted India’s footprint in these regions, even as Chinese influence destabilizes Indian hegemony in South Asia. Major deals with Bangladesh and Japan, in addition to a flurry of meetings between top Indian officials and their regional counterparts, have been taken as early signs that Act East represents a genuine shift in Indian foreign policy. With Myanmar, deliverables under Modi thus far have been fairly modest: an agreement to crack down on regional insurg

From 'Looking' East to 'Acting' East: India’s Own Pivot to Asia ( Copy Right @ The Diplomat, Author- Micheal Kugelman & Raymond E. Vickery Jr)

Indo- Vietnamese meeting ( Image credits- Flickr/ MEA) Sources- The Diplomat Author- Micheal Kugelman &  Raymond E. Vickery Jr The United States has long urged India to play a more active strategic role in world affairs—a role commensurate with the image India likes to project of itself as a powerful democracy, and with its leaders’ proclamations of their country as a “natural partner” of the United States. By and large, New Delhi has resisted this American request on the grounds that its interests are better served by non-alignment, non-interference, and, when it comes down to it, close relations with U.S. adversaries such as Iran and Russia. And yet for Washington, urging India to play a more active global role may actually amount to a proverbial case of kicking in an open door. Indeed, there are increasing signs that India is in fact beginning to play a bigger role in the world—or at least in Asia. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is spearheading a substant