A “Nodal Centre”: Competing Interests in India’s Relations with ASEAN after Covid-19

In November 2020, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated what had been the key message in India-ASEAN relations for the last thirty years: namely, ASEAN continued to be at the ‘centre’ of New Delhi’s Eastern foreign policy vector. Modi’s statement came at a critical juncture for their relations, as the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic forced ASEAN to reconsider its approach to regional powers—and especially China—to the detriment of India. In this light, the chapter presents a study on the prospects of current India-ASEAN relations, adopting an interest-based approach to unpack bilateral relations. This chapter investigates the history and institutional framework that regulate India-ASEAN relations, as well as the evolution of their two chief cooperative interests—that is, trade and economic exchanges and non-traditional security cooperation. The chapter concludes that China and newfound regional multilateral frameworks of economic cooperation pose the most severe threats to the future prosperity of India’s engagement with Southeast Asia. The analysis also indicates that what is referred to as ‘Buddhist diplomacy’ and maritime security cooperation, especially in the South China Sea (SCS), remain Delhi’s major trump cards for fostering relations with ASEAN in the short term.