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New Delhi and Canberra have had to bear the brunt of increasingly belligerent Chinese behavior in the Indo-Pacific, pushing their bilateral relationship to new heights.

The current Indian government has given clear indicators that it is likely to place regional integration high on its economic diplomacy agenda, be it SAARC, ASEAN or BCIM. The last two are especially important to India's Act East Policy.

As the Bay of Bengal region continues to rise as an economic and strategic hub, there is increasing awareness of the role to be played by the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) in promoting growth, development and stability in the region. Having kept a low profile in its 20 years of existence, BIMSTEC is now being seen as a potential driver of integration between South Asia and Southeast As

The Indian Ocean is vital to the economies, security and livelihoods of its littoral states. However, the economic and sustainable development issues in the rim are particularly challenging since the countries, with diverse political systems, development status and agendas, are home to one- third of the world’s population that rely extensively on the marine resources for sustenance, thereby subjecting the ocean’s resources to pressures from p

AUKUS adds another layer of deterrence against China. The group is likely to strengthen the military dimension, contrary to the belief that it undercuts Quad.

Inclusiveness, openness, and ASEAN centrality and unity, therefore, lie at the heart of the Indian notion of Indo-Pacific.

For decades since 1932, after the Chakri dynasty gave up absolute power, Thailand has lived under the shadow of military coups.

Beijing’s statements on China-India relations should be reassuring, but China’s repeated aggressive moves do not give India much confidence that Beijing means what it says.

In October 2019, China’s Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Mauritius opened the Chinese market to Mauritian exporters and investors. Not long after, concerns arose that Mauritius might be lacking in the capacity to benefit significantly from the agreement and thus lose in terms of a trade imbalance that clearly favours China. This brief revisits China’s motivations for the FTA, and finds economic and geopolitical goals. Given Mauritius’s smal

Beijing’s Southeast Asia outreach may complicate the U.S.’s efforts to build a coalition to isolate or deter China economically.

Japan wants to assist India to improve the investment climate to attract more FDI so that New Delhi can be linked more closely with Japan–ASEAN-based supply chains.

ASEAN presents a very bright instance of how to deal with the situation that holds within itself the potential of being a great example for BIMSTEC.

With both the goods FTA and services FTA in place, India is well set on the path of a comprehensive economic partnership with ASEAN. India, whose services sector contributes about 55% to the country's GDP, has been keen to sign the services FTA with ASEAN as it will help the Indian companies tap the ASEAN markets easily.

Despite public display of affection, all is not well in the India-Russia relationship.

AUKUS fits into a growing network of minilaterials crisscrossing the Indo-Pacific and rooted in shared strategic interests.

SAARC remains the only viable vehicle for South Asian integration, a project vital for India because a viable South Asian economy is a necessary pre-condition for our ability to engage effectively with ASEAN and China. And when we look at SAARC, the key hurdle it must overcome is the India-Pakistan problem.

In recent years, both nations have displayed a renewed focus and prioritisation of establishing strong relationships with each other and the neighbouring ASEAN countries.

‘Indo-Pacific’ is being used loosely to mean different things to different nations

It would be worth France, India, and Japan beginning an institutionalised and wide-ranging dialogue to ensure that the three of them can better coordinate their activities in the Indo-Pacific — not necessarily to counter China, but to encourage it to cooperate.

After President Donald Trump’s 2017 visit to Asia, the Indo-Pacific region assumed greater significance in the United States’ foreign policy calculus, as articulated in the ‘Indo-Pacific Strategy Report’ released by the US Department of Defence. On 31 December 2018, Trump passed the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA), which authorises US$1.5 billion in spending for a range of US programmes in East Asia and Southeast Asia to “develop

It is relatively easy to establish coalitions to work on non-traditional security issues, but nurturing a group to focus on security issues as the core is not easy, especially for countries like India.

Issues between the US and China are not likely to be worked out quickly.

The $375 million BrahMos deal will have an impact on the India-China, India-ASEAN as well as the Philippines-China relations

Ties between India and Australia are wide-ranging: from geostrategic cooperation and trade, to soft power mechanisms such as cricket and tourism. This paper makes a case for improving bilateral relations between New Delhi and Canberra. While there are substantial opportunities for trade and investment flows between the two countries, the engagements have been largely underdeveloped over the years. The immense scope of complementarities between th

India needs to do a more convincing job as a beneficial strategic partner of ASEAN by boosting its domestic economic reforms agenda, enhancing regional connectivity, and increasing its presence in regional institutions. ASEAN too should be more specific in its expectations from New Delhi.

Given the regional complexities, as well as India's own concerns, a more nuanced approach is needed

The New Year of 2022 has come with intriguing messages from China, not in the least for India.

The Modi government can choose to be part of a massive Indo-Pacific trading bloc, or succumb to isolationism. China complicates the choice.

We need a foreign policy approach that thinks beyond event management.

India should try to make its development cooperation more effective and make sure that instruments lines of credit deepen India’s economic engagements with partner countries like Vietnam.

New Delhi must stand committed to its rhetoric on the Freedom of Navigation (FON) and to defend its interests should the need arise. This in turn would involve deepening naval cooperation with the key countries of the ASEAN and major powers sharing India's interest in defending the principle of FON.

India's exports would go down if economic sanctions are imposed on Sri Lanka as sought by some people in Tamil Nadu, affecting farmers, manufacturers and suppliers in the State, says former President of the India-ASEAN-Sri Lanka Chamber of Commerce.

Economic ties between India and Russia have remained the weakest link in their bilateral relationship since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Both countries have set out to correct this in the past two years, making efforts to diversify their relationship beyond the defence and energy sectors as they navigate a changing world order. This brief analyses the developments in India-Russia relations since the May 2018 Sochi informal summit and the 201

India and Thailand have long-standing civilisational ties shaped by centuries of cultural and commercial interaction. Despite the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1947, bilateral cooperation between them gained real momentum only after the Cold War, driven by shifting regional dynamics and deeper integration into multilateral forums. In recent years, mutual initiatives such as India’s “Act East” and Thailand’s “Act West” polic

The Indo-Pacific region has become a crucial area of the India-United States (US) partnership. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the two countries have increased their alignment on the Indo-Pacific, with both sides giving greater priority to the region and acknowledging sharper shared concerns about China. The US and India are also increasing cooperation via the Quad and engaging in other platforms such as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (I

The dilemma facing ASEAN countries - economic benefits vs strategic balancing as they engage China - is nothing unique. This provides the context for India and the US to channel their efforts in establishing a firm partnership for enabling a stable Asian order.

Vietnam is an important player in India’s Act East policy and also its Indo-Pacific vision