Articles

June 30, 2022

India and Vietnam strengthen defence cooperation

Three significant developments concerning India-Vietnam defence cooperation merit attention.  First, earlier this month, India formally handed over six high-speed boats built for the Vietnamese Border Guard Force. These boats are part of the 12 boats that were offered by India […]
May 27, 2022

Manila’s Foreign Policy Commitments in the South China Sea Under the New President-elect

The recent Presidential elections in the Philippines presented an interesting case for evaluating the geopolitics prospects in Southeast Asia and beyond. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. won a landslide victory, the kind that his father Ferdinand Marcos Sr. had achieved decades […]
January 10, 2022

Would the new Coast Guard Forum help speed up COC negotiations?

Vietnam Coast Guard (VCG) and Indonesia’s Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in December 2021 to further strengthen bilateral ‘maritime security and safety’ cooperation. The MoU is expected to “serve as a tool, corridor and mechanism […]
December 17, 2021

Three ‘I’s influence G20’s discourse

The three ‘I’s – Italy, Indonesia and India have now entered the troika group of countries of the Group of 20 (G20) – past president (Italy in 2021), current president (Indonesia in 2022) and future president (India in 2023) – […]
December 6, 2021

Stage is set for Minilateral Engagements between India, Japan and Vietnam

The contemporary discourse on International Relations endorses and encourages multilateralism. However, multilateralism, due to its large number of partners, is fast turning into a talk shop where everything and anything is discussed, and only a few issues achieve fruition. Furthermore, […]
November 26, 2021

Vietnam and Japan Commit to Partnership for Peace and Prosperity

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has returned home after a very productive meeting with his Japanese counterpart Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. It was his first visit to Japan and likewise, he was also the first foreign visitor that Kashida received […]
November 19, 2021

India and Vietnam should Explore Practical Maritime Cooperation through IPOI

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is expected to visit India in the coming weeks. This will be his first visit after taking over as the Prime Minister; it will also be an opportunity to discuss with his counterpart Prime […]
October 26, 2021

ASEAN must relentlessly pursue the Code of Conduct momentum set by Vietnam

The 38th and 39th ASEAN Summits and Related Summits scheduled later this month will take place in a turbulent time wherein two important issues will be high on the agenda of the grouping. First, the developments concerning Myanmar, a thorny […]
March 12, 2021

Vietnam practices deft diplomacy amid strategic dilemmas

US President Biden signed the interim National Security Guidance early this month which notes that Russia “remains determined to enhance its global influence and play a disruptive role on the world stage”, and identifies China as “the only competitor potentially […]
August 6, 2020

Vietnam Leads from the Front in ASEAN and at the UN

After taking over the Chairmanship of the ASEAN and being a Non-Permanent Member of the UN Security Council, the Vietnamese leadership has spearheaded many initiatives in the midst of challenging times emerging from the COVID-19 global pandemic. A unique opportunity […]
June 25, 2020

India’s Future Relations with ASEAN

Devassy Auseph Soft power—the term coined by an American political scientist, Joseph Nye, about three decades ago—holds prominence among academicians and political scientists alike even today. In Nye’s words, “to get others to do what they otherwise would not” is […]
May 2, 2019

India’s Engagements at ASEAN Forums

By Jayashri Ramesh Sundaram India’s engagement with the ASEAN nations began with the ‘Look East Policy’ of 1991. Today, India has 30 sectoral dialogue mechanisms and 7 ministerial-level interactions apart from annual summits with the ASEAN countries. The ‘Look East Policy’ […]
May 1, 2019

Rolling the Credits on Modi’s ‘Act East’ Policy

By Juanita Justin Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s interaction with Southeast Asia comes at a time of changing geopolitical architecture in the Southeast Asian and Indo-Pacific region. The government revamped the 1991 ‘Look East’ policy to the ‘Act East’ policy to […]
December 5, 2018

India-Singapore Relations: Exploring Potential Partnership

Strategically located on the Strait of Malacca, Singapore has the largest port in South-East Asia connecting the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. The dominance of the country on the Strait of Malacca makes the port one of the […]
May 9, 2018

India’s Trade and Maritime Policy in the Indian Ocean Region

The Indian Ocean Region has always played a vital role in India’s foreign policy strategy and successive Prime Ministers have attempted to ensure that India remains the dominant regional power in the area. Maintaining freedom of navigation and ensuring a […]