... heavyweights (possibly members of G20 from the Global South). The alternative is the aggregation of the regional integration blocs of all of the five BRICS members – represented by the BEAMS platforms consisting of BIMSTEC, Eurasian Economic Union, the ASEAN-China FTA, Mercosur and the South African Customs Union – leading to the addition of up to 25 members (the 5 times 5 geometric progression – or the 5 BRICS taken to the power of 2) of the BRICS+ circle that are the regional neighbors/partners ...
... to maximize their strategic autonomy vis-a-vis the American and Chinese superpowers. It is with this incipient trend in mind what is now unfolding in Eurasia as India would do well to attempt its replication in the Indo-Pacific region with respect to ASEAN. To explain the reason behind this policy proposal, it’s enough to cite the opening remarks of the Singaporean Foreign Minister during mid-June’s special ASEAN Foreign Ministers meeting with India.
Mr. Vivian Balakrishnan
declared
that “The ...
... additional contracts
. This is precisely what happened with China’s trade agreement with Hong Kong, which covered a limited number of service industry sectors and investment in 2004, as well as with Beijing’s agreement with Macau. The agreement with ASEAN evolved in a similar manner. Importantly, China has stayed true to this integration course for two decades.
The RCEP may very well evolve in the same way. While it is true that there are no fundamentally new agreements within this partnership in ...
... to building the BRICS+ platform.
That regional approach was also evidenced in the Forum of political parties, think-tanks and NGOs that was held on May 19th in BRICS+ format - among the countries invited to participate were Cambodia (chairmanship in ASEAN in 2022) as well as Senegal and Argentina that represented Africa and Latin America respectively. In effect China thus presented an inclusive format for dialogue spanning all the main regions of the Global South via aggregating the regional integration ...
... facilitating Track 1.5 and 2 dialogue, also fostering people-to-people exchange, traditionally welcomed by the Asian societies. One of such areas is the interest in relatively inexpensive opportunities to train specialists and engineers in Russia. The idea of
ASEAN centrality
could also facilitate the acceptance of Russia in the Southeast Asian subregion, which forms the core of the Asia-Pacific as a whole. ASEAN’s
sourness
over the recent summit in Washington represents a chance for the Russian Federation ...
... Initiative (BRI).
Another crucial driver for the R5+ initiative is the significant progression of regional integration initiatives across the Global South. In particular there is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) led by China and the ASEAN economies. In Africa the key integration initiative is the African Continental Free Trade Area launched in 2018. Another important development is the rising coordination among the regional integration blocks and the signing of the respective memoranda ...
... After all, whether or not either of those superpowers politicizes their arms exports, the other will certainly take notice if any given country purchases their rival’s. This is especially true for Chinese exports to West Asia and American ones to the ASEAN states. In order to avoid inadvertently offending either of those two, the Neo-NAM’s countries might opt to purchase jointly produced Russian-Indian arms instead in order to signal that they’re truly militarily neutral states.
Going Forward
...
... needs to proactively facilitate efforts at better understanding between New Delhi and Beijing, and promote positive interaction among the three great powers. Such interaction is also needed for engagement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a key aspect of the Greater Eurasian Partnership. It is even more necessary for building up the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as a continent-wide dialogue platform.
Moreover, close relations with New Delhi would help Moscow in engaging ...
... the press-conference, Sergey Lavrov
spoke of
“identical positions with Indian colleagues” and promised to “do everything […] to prevent the plans of Indo-Pacific strategies, AUKUS and other closed (bloc) formats from trying to prevail over ASEAN and ASEAN-centric structures”. India wholeheartedly supports ASEAN-centrality as well. So do the United States and other nations that have come up with their own Indo-Pacific visions. Yet, New Delhi has resorted to a nuanced stance vis-à-vis ...
If the momentum continues, Indonesia will likely amplify the country’s ongoing space-related endeavors with a view to enhance its political and economic position in the region
As follows from the ASEAN alphabetical order of chairmanship, year 2023 is to be marked with Indonesia taking over the reins. Although it is a bit premature to bet on which priorities will be put in the spotlight, a certain guess can already be made now—which is that the ...
