20/11/2020 - International Relations

KEY POINTS

·       The East Asia Summit (EAS) is the main summit in the Indo-Pacific region, where all the powers that be gather annually. It is usually held just after the second ASEAN summit of the year when the ASEAN also meets its dialogue partners, including India.

·       The EAS covers security, economy and functional aspects, which are reflected in the Chairman’s Statement a summary and not a negotiated document.

·       The situation emanating from the pandemic was the immediate focal point and the Chinese conundrum was ignored by the EAS documents.

·       This year, the leaders had documents for the regional economy, marine sustainability, dealing with epidemics and the role of women. Over the years, EAS has been looking more at non-traditional threats including illegal fishing, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief (HADR), migration and the like.

·       The EAS provides ASEAN with an opportunity to become more realistic but internal dissensions over China wither its resolve.

·       Other areas of interest for India emanating from the leaders documents are regional connectivity with a perceptible shift to the maritime sphere, macroeconomic and financial stability efforts in which India has not so far played a major role.

·       India has a role in the ideas behind the statement on marine sustainability since it has dealt with illegal fishing and related issues and could become a part of the proposed regional cooperation for mobility of skilled labour and services. These need to be better covered by a reviewed India-ASEAN FTA.

·       India has an important role envisaged in the statement on dealing with epidemics, both in its ability to provide capacity building and crucial manufacturing bases for pharmaceuticals as part of resilient supply chains for medical supplies in the region.

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