Sampa Kundu replies: The ASEAN-India Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation (CECA) came into effect in 2010. The Agreement provides the basis for the ASEAN-India FTA in goods, services and investments, which will be fully functional by 2016. The FTA with the ASEAN is India’s first major multilateral FTA and a key step towards enhancing India’s Look East Policy.

Rup Narayan Das replies: The answer to the question is implicit in the question itself. Yes, the Chinese assertiveness in ASEAN is both a challenge and an opportunity for India. By Chinese assertiveness we mean China’s aggressive posturing on South China Sea and East China Sea issues. The two issues are different. Both, however, involve claims and counter-claims of territorial sovereignty. The claim of sovereignty also pertains to jostling for natural resources, including rich deposits of hydrocarbon. They also involve the issue of freedom of navigation. Managing China’s posturing poses a challenge to the countries of the reign. These challenges can be met strategically and diplomatically. India’s benign presence and role in the region will be reassuring to the countries of the region. An inclusive and transparent security architecture will go a long way in mitigating the persistent security dilemma.

On the other hand, China’s emergence as the world’s second largest economy offers India and the countries in the region an opportunity to engage with China, thoughtfully and imaginatively, for a mutually beneficial and win-win relationship. This is easier said than done, though. However, going by the immediate past experience, such as China’s role earlier in the Asian financial crisis and later in the world financial crisis, the economies of the region can be integrated through free trade agreements of various kinds, both bilaterally and multilaterally, for a mutually beneficial relationship in terms of trade and investment. But the interest of the domestic economy needs to be protected, and the pace and speed of economic integration accordingly determined.

Rukmani Gupta replies: The Trans-Pacific Partnership (or the TPP as it is generally known) is a free-trade agreement being negotiated between 11 countries of the Pacific rim including Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States of America and Vietnam. Japan is the 12th country that has entered into the negotiations to join the TPP. The US administration under President Barack Obama seems to have prioritised the TPP as the economic component of its "rebalancing" to Asia strategy.

Some have suggested that the TPP would compete with existing and proposed free trade arrangements in Asia and pose a challenge to the economic unity between the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) states since some of them are members of the TPP and, moreover, the ASEAN itself is involved in negotiating a large trade agreement – the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership or the RCEP. The RCEP involves negotiations between 16 countries - the 10 members of the ASEAN and six regional partners (India, Japan, China, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand).

There is clearly an overlap in the membership of these two trade agreements. However, this does not necessarily imply that the goals of the two agreements are antagonistic. The TPP seeks to vastly reduce tariff levels among member countries and standardise policies on various issues including safeguarding intellectual property rights. The ambit of the RCEP is not quite as vast. The two can therefore be seen as different rungs on a free-trade agreement ladder. Although some American officials have stated that the US would welcome India’s participation in the TPP, India has not made any official statement on the issue suggesting such a move. It may be reasonable to expect that it will take some time before India would be amenable to joining a trade agreement such as the TPP, whose scope extends well beyond other trade agreements India has partnered in.

Jagannath P. Panda replies: In order to craft a more decisive policy towards Southeast Asia, India capitalizes on maximizing trade and economic contacts with the ASEAN, which is the prime multilateral body that connects Asia’s three key regions together: South Asia, East Asia and Southeast Asia. The thrust has been to capitalise on the ‘strategic partnership’ between India and the ASEAN. Though trade and economic relationship, key to the India-ASEAN partnership, has been growing, it is yet to realise its fill potential.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently described the growing India-ASEAN relationship and partnership agreement as “transformational”, aimed at pushing India-ASEAN trade to almost $200 billion in the next decade; setting a realistic target of $100 billion trade by 2015. The last one-decade trade contacts between the two sides suggest that bilateral trade and economic contacts have been on ascendancy, mainly since the FTA has come into force between the two sides (See the chart below).

(Note: Trade Figures are in approximate and compiled from open sources)

While air and road infrastructure linkages could be one viable way to maximize the trade, the focus should also be on maritime engagements. Bilateral trade and economic engagements between India and the ASEAN has been the main hallmark of this relationship over the years. After the signing of the FTA in goods between India and the ASEAN, the bilateral trade has massively increased to 41 per cent during the year 2011-12, almost reaching $80 billion. The December 2012 India-ASEAN Commemorative Summit saw the signing of the FTA on services and investment, which would certainly help in further maximizing the trade and economic engagement in times to come. Besides, the FTA on services and investment will certainly be beneficial to the Indian economy, especially in terms of further integrating India into the Southeast Asian economies.

For both China and India, the primary contention in their engagement with ASEAN is: who will have an edge in the ASEAN-led regional politics? Both are concerned about the geographic scope of the Asian community building. Chinese officials and scholars are worried about India’s recent revitalized approach towards the ASEAN and South-East Asia. Chinese officials do notice India’s presence and activities in the region quite seriously. If India manages to integrate itself more actively with the ASEAN and South-East Asia, ASEAN and India will be in a win–win situation when countries in the region start looking for India’s greater role, particularly in terms of economic integration at least if not in other areas, undercutting China’s influence in the region. Beijing, it may be noted, had vigorously opposed India’s association with the East Asia Summit (EAS). China has always pointedly avoided advocating a leading role for ASEAN+6 or EAS, canvassing to limit the dialogue to ASEAN+1 and ASEAN+3.

Rahul Mishra replies: Ever since the inception of Look East Policy, India has strived to seek a balance in terms of multilateral and bilateral engagement with countries of the Southeast Asian region. Even in terms of implementing the Look East Policy, no country has been given priority over the other.

As far as ties with Brunei is concerned, regular visits by the leaders from both the sides, including the May 2008 visit of the Sultan of Brunei Darussalam, Hassanal Bolkiah, to New Delhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s meeting with the Sultan on the sidelines of the 10th ASEAN-India Summit in Cambodia in November 2012, testify the warmth in bilateral ties. Prior to the 10th ASEAN-India Summit, the then Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna had visited the country in October 2012. One of the objectives of his visit was to explore the possibilities of a long-term LNG supply from Brunei, which was also the country coordinator for India in the ASEAN in 2012.

The India-Brunei energy cooperation is going smoothly and the two countries are exploring the possibility of further cooperation in this regard. In fact, the energy sector holds lion’s share in the India-Brunei trade. Out of the total US $500 million trade, energy sector contributes about US $400 million. However, India and Brunei are also mulling over the possibility of diversifying and increasing the share of other trading goods, which includes joint venture investments in hotel industry and infrastructure development. Brunei is particularly interested in investing in the Indian hotel industry, which is open to 100 per cent foreign direct investment.