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The Northeast’s role as a crossroads for the Indo-Pacific means US strategic engagement could simultaneously drive growth and intensify challenges, shaping the trajectory of India’s Act East Policy.
This commentary is part of the ongoing U.S. Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific: North Eastern Dialogue.
US President Donald Trump laid out his administration’s “US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific” region in his first term. The Indo-Pacific Strategic Framework alluded to India’s prime position in South Asia and its “leading role in maintaining Indian Ocean security”. It also highlighted India as a “preferred partner” in energy and technological cooperation to enhance regional connectivity in South Asia. India’s pristine and strategically located Northeast region boasts vast land and water connectivity networks, linking major trade nodes with neighbouring countries. The Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project (KMMTTP), which links Kolkata and Vizag to Myanmar via the Northeast, is a significant development and a testament to the geostrategic importance of the region in the face of strain in India-Bangladesh bilateral relations following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh. The region overlooks the Bay of Bengal. Moreover, it serves as a critical litmus test for the successful implementation of India’s Act East Policy, as failure to rapidly improve infrastructural gaps, enhance road connectivity networks, and establish robust economic activities in India’s Northeast will deflate any claim of success of the mentioned policy. Thus, it is a pertinent question whether the desired integration of the Northeast region would be possible without significantly improving infrastructural development and road-railway connectivity across the region.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows in the Northeast are the lowest across the country, accounting for just 2.8 percent of India’s total FDI inflows, which is abysmally low given the region’s immense potential.
The regional core-periphery infrastructural development gaps and a lack of digitalisation of network infrastructure have delayed India’s vulnerable Northeast from playing its pivotal role as a regional strategic and economic hub. The lack of a robust intra-connectivity network has also hindered emotional and material integration within the states and among sections of the population in the region. The objective of this article is to assess the opportunities for, and challenges to, the US’s strategic engagement for economic prosperity in India’s Northeast, as a part of its wider involvement in the Indo-Pacific.
The Trump administration’s Indo-Pacific Strategic Framework emphasises partnering with friendly countries, such as India, to enhance regional connectivity through financing major projects. It also highlights the strengthening of civil institutions and governance apparatuses through technical support to enhance regional capabilities and thwart any attempts by China to project itself as the “inevitable” dominant regional power in infrastructure development and economic growth. Such a US commitment could result in investments in infrastructural development and trade logistics, thereby helping local businesses and elevating the financial profile of this economically underdeveloped region. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows in the Northeast are the lowest across the country, accounting for just 2.8 percent of India’s total FDI inflows, which is abysmally low given the region’s immense potential. With increased inflows, sectors such as eco-tourism, sports, education, skill development, and energy could benefit, thanks to the region’s abundant natural resources.
Robust US-India economic cooperation in the region could also improve underdeveloped education and healthcare systems, helping arrest the talent exodus and migration of skilled human capital from the Northeast.
Due to the region’s poor infrastructural development and connectivity networks, high inflation, especially in rural areas, prevails, coupled with informal trade practices resulting from porous borders and inadequate trade logistics. FDI inflows and focused investments in core strengths, such as the agro-horticulture sector, could boost the region’s export capabilities. Local products such as pineapple, banana, betel nut, bamboo, spices, ginger, tea, medicinal herbs, and other forest produce hold strong prospects for boosting regional trade, thereby eliciting further investment and deepening people-to-people and cultural ties across nations. Thus, robust US-India economic cooperation in the region could also improve underdeveloped education and healthcare systems, helping arrest the talent exodus and migration of skilled human capital from the Northeast. US agencies could facilitate increased opportunities for youth in the region through vocational training and professional exchange programmes, enabling them to contribute to the region’s dynamic development.
In this context, the potential implications of US Indo-Pacific strategic engagement in Northeast India include concerns over resource exploitation, the adoption of unsustainable development models and infrastructure build-up, and increased air and water pollution. Resource-driven politics have already aggravated disparities among regions and communities, fuelling existing ethnic tensions, as witnessed in the Manipur violence that erupted in May 2023. Moreover, development projects that disregard the cultural sensitivities of native inhabitants in the region could result in mass mobilisations and indigenous sustainability movements that may conflict with nationalist objectives.
A minor misadventure, resulting in mistrust among local leaders and stakeholders, has the potential to undermine any economic or strategic progress made through India-US cooperation in the region. A related risk lies in the inability to balance the strategic imperatives of the US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific Framework—aligned with broader national and geopolitical priorities—with the region’s need for sustainable economic development, which is crucial for strengthening local governance and public trust.
US strategic engagement in the Northeast provides a unique opportunity for India to enhance three-way connectivity: within the Northeast, between the region and the rest of India, and between the region and the broader Indo-Pacific.
The Northeast region’s geographic location and strategic significance position it as a geostrategic crossroads for India-US cooperation in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and the wider Indo-Pacific. Holistic development of the region is a prerequisite for India’s success in its foreign and security policy in the East. Denying the region and its people improved internal connectivity and stronger external linkages would risk undermining the success of the Act East Policy. US strategic engagement in the Northeast provides a unique opportunity for India to enhance three-way connectivity: within the Northeast, between the region and the rest of India, and between the region and the broader Indo-Pacific. Nonetheless, such an endeavour will face systematic challenges, including insurgencies, poor governance structures, political instability, and law and order shortcomings. Addressing these requires comprehensive India-US cooperation that engages with local stakeholders’ grievances, upholds inclusive governance practices, and adopts a transparent approach anchored in sustainable development practices.
Md Farijuddin Khan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Dhanamanjuri University, Manipur, India.
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Dr Md Farijuddin Khan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Dhanamanjuri University, Manipur, India. He is the author of The ...
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