scholarly journals India–ASEAN Relations: Riding and Transcending the “Indo-Pacific” Wave

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
KARTHIK NACHIAPPAN
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Economic Partnership ◽  
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Defense Cooperation

This paper surveys India–ASEAN relations since the late 1990s amid the ongoing quest for a new regional compact in a post-pandemic era to advance India’s growing security and economic interests in Southeast Asia. During the cold war, India preferred to engage bilaterally with Southeast Asian countries than engage ASEAN directly. This tack shifted after 2000 as new security challenges arrived, particularly the need to secure the Indian Ocean. India’s overtures with ASEAN and ASEAN states grew alongside defense cooperation, which are now being renewed and renegotiated under the “Indo-Pacific” rubric despite differences over how India and ASEAN states regard the concept. Economic liberalization changed India’s calculus in the 1980s, which led to a series of overtures to economically tether India to the ASEAN. India–ASEAN trade grew dramatically over the last decade but fears abound over whether India’s rejection of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement will reverse its economic footprint in Southeast Asia. Given both security and economic differences between India and the ASEAN, opportunities exist in joining to address shared transnational challenges like cybersecurity and counterterrorism.

Southeast Asia and the United States

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenton Clymer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Southeast Asian Countries

The U.S. relationship with Southeast Asia has always reflected the state of U.S. interactions with the three major powers that surround the region: Japan, China, and, to a lesser extent, India. Initially, Americans looked at Southeast Asia as an avenue to the rich markets that China and India seemed to offer, while also finding trading opportunities in the region itself. Later, American missionaries sought to save Southeast Asian souls, while U.S. officials often viewed Southeast Asia as a region that could tip the overall balance of power in East Asia if its enormous resources fell under the control of a hostile power. American interest expanded enormously with the annexation of the Philippines in 1899, an outgrowth of the Spanish-American War. That acquisition resulted in a nearly half-century of American colonial rule, while American investors increased their involvement in exploiting the region’s raw materials, notably tin, rubber, and petroleum, and missionaries expanded into areas previously closed to them. American occupation of the Philippines heightened tensions with Japan, which sought the resources of Southeast Asia, particularly in French Indochina, Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies (today’s Indonesia). Eventually, clashing ambitions and perceptions brought the United States into World War II. Peeling those territories away from Japan during the war was a key American objective. Americans resisted the Japanese in the Philippines and in Burma, but after Japan quickly subdued Southeast Asia, there was little contact in the region until the reconquest began in 1944. American forces participated in the liberation of Burma and also fought in the Dutch Indies and the Philippines before the war ended in 1945. After the war, the United States had to face the independence struggles in several Southeast Asian countries, even as the Grand Alliance fell apart and the Cold War emerged, which for the next several decades overshadowed almost everything. American efforts to prevent communist expansion in the region inhibited American support for decolonization and led to war in Vietnam and Laos and covert interventions elsewhere. With the end of the Cold War in 1991, relations with most of Southeast Asia have generally been normal, except for Burma/Myanmar, where a brutal military junta ruled. The opposition, led by the charismatic Aung San Suu Kyi, found support in the United States. More recently American concerns with China’s new assertiveness, particularly in the South China Sea, have resulted in even closer U.S. relations with Southeast Asian countries.

Why Asian states cooperate in regional arrangements: Asian regionalism in comparative perspective

2021 ◽  
pp. 004711782110289
Author(s):  
Diana Panke ◽  
Jürgen Rüland
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Regional Organizations ◽  
Asian Regionalism ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Methods

Regional cooperation in Asia takes place in formal Regional Organizations (ROs) as well as in less formal Regional Fora (RF). In addition, unlike in other parts of the world, Asian regionalism mainly developed in one instead of two waves. Especially after the end of the Cold War, Asian countries created numerous ROs and RF. Over time, Asian states became members of several ROs and RF at the same time, thereby contributing to Asian regime complexity. Given that multiple memberships in regional cooperation agreements can place high demands on diplomatic and financial resources of member states, the fact that Asian states became members in between one and 17 ROs and RF is puzzling. This article investigates why Asian countries join regional cooperation agreements. Based on a theory-guided empirical analysis that combines quantitative and qualitative methods, it argues that hedging and economic interests are the main driving forces behind Asian regionalism and that these motivations are often interlinked.

scholarly journals The Emergence of an Economic-Security Nexus and the Diversity of FTA Linkage Strategies in East Asia

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-129
Author(s):  
Lee Seung Joo
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
East Asia ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Free Trade Agreements ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Shed Light

While aggressively embracing free trade agreements (FTAs) in general, East Asian countries have incorporated security and political factors in promoting FTAs under the swiftly shifting regional economic and security environments, epitomized by the end of the Cold War, the Asian financial crisis, and the intensifying Sino-Japanese rivalry. Therefore, a sole focus on economic factors would fail to shed light on East Asian strategies for linking FTAs and security. While FTAs have mushroomed in East Asia since 2000, East Asian countries have pursued FTAs not merely to increase their economic interests. In many cases, they have attempted to link FTAs to broader security considerations. However, they have demonstrated markedly diverse ways of linking FTAs and security, depending on their primary economic and security imperatives as well as their domestic political situations.

scholarly journals Taiwan’s Challenges in the Changing Landscape of Regional Security and Economy in the Asia-Pacific Region after the Cold War

2016 ◽  
pp. 155-175
Author(s):  
Chih-Mao Tang
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Asia Pacific Region ◽  
China Sea ◽  
Maritime Disputes ◽  
Economic Partnership ◽  
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership ◽  
The Cold War

After the Cold War, international politics and economy of the Asia-Pacific region has changed tremendously. Regional economic integration accelerates up with the rapid increase of bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements between regional countries, whereas regional security is continually confronted with conflict flashpoints, including regional maritime sovereignty disputes. This article provides the recent development ofregional economy and security with emphasis on maritime disputes in East China Sea and South China Sea and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and discusses the possible challenges to Taiwan in these issues.

The Handbook of European Defence Policies and Armed Forces

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
National Security ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Blind Spot ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
National Defence

The armed forces of Europe have undergone a dramatic transformation since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Handbook of European Defence Policies and Armed Forces provides the first comprehensive analysis of national security and defence policies, strategies, doctrines, capabilities, and military operations, as well as the alliances and partnerships of European armed forces in response to the security challenges Europe has faced since the end of the cold war. A truly cross-European comparison of the evolution of national defence policies and armed forces remains a notable blind spot in the existing literature. This Handbook aims to fill this gap with fifty-one contributions on European defence and international security from around the world. The six parts focus on: country-based assessments of the evolution of the national defence policies of Europe’s major, medium, and lesser powers since the end of the cold war; the alliances and security partnerships developed by European states to cooperate in the provision of national security; the security challenges faced by European states and their armed forces, ranging from interstate through intra-state and transnational; the national security strategies and doctrines developed in response to these challenges; the military capabilities, and the underlying defence and technological industrial base, brought to bear to support national strategies and doctrines; and, finally, the national or multilateral military operations by European armed forces. The contributions to The Handbook collectively demonstrate the fruitfulness of giving analytical precedence back to the comparative study of national defence policies and armed forces across Europe.

Global Britain's strategic problem East of Suez

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
William D. James
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Alternative Explanation ◽  
Arabian Peninsula ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Military Bases ◽  
Political Incentives ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Permanent Presence

Abstract Why did Britain withdraw from its military bases in the Arabian Peninsula and Southeast Asia midway through the Cold War? Existing accounts tend to focus on Britain's weak economic position, as well as the domestic political incentives of retrenchment for the ruling Labour Party. This article offers an alternative explanation: the strategic rationale for retaining a permanent presence East of Suez dissolved during the 1960s, as policymakers realised that these military bases were consuming more security than they could generate. These findings have resonance for British officials charting a return East of Suez today under the banner of ‘Global Britain’.

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