 "PM Modi's visit to Brunei, Singapore bolsters up ASEAN focus in his third term")
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent interactions in his third term show that the pace is being picked up in engaging with countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with a view to enhancing the Act East Policy, now in its 10th year.
After recent engagements with visiting Prime Ministers of Vietnam and Malaysia, Modi has just completed a successful visit to Brunei and Singapore. This would have included a visit to Thailand, had the change of government not taken place there. This also prevented the holding of the BIMSTEC Summit, which Thailand was to host. Despite that hiccup in Thailand, Modi decided to continue with his visit to Singapore and Brunei so that the momentum of an early re-engagement with ASEAN countries in his third term is not lost.
The visit to Brunei is the first bilateral visit by an Indian PM since Brunei’s independence in 1984 and the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992. An earlier visit by Manmohan Singh was in the context of the East Asia Summit and related meetings in 2013. This is the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and was thus a good initiative to have a bilateral visit.
The success of the visit saw the India-Brunei relationship raised to an ‘Enhanced Partnership’, which means there will be more intensive engagement in a variety of areas. This included trade, gas, space, and capacity building. Brunei hosts a satellite tracking station for India’s space programme.
The visit to Singapore can be called another landmark, and next year it will be the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. The partnership is now raised to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. It is Modi’s first visit to Singapore in his third term. His visit in 2018 as PM is still remembered because of his famous speech at the Shangri-La dialogue, where he laid out the contours of India’s Indo-Pacific policy. In the second term, Modi made no visit to Singapore.
The current visit was an early engagement with the new Prime Minister of Singapore, Lawrence Wong. Modi also met the two former PMs with whom India had good relations. Singapore had been the country coordinator for India in ASEAN for the last three years. India had invited Singapore as a guest for the G20 in 2023.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsBoth PMs agreed to further intensify the strong human, spiritual, and cultural linkages between India and Singapore. Modi appreciated Singapore’s harmonious multicultural society that has provided opportunities for all communities, including the Indian community, to be part of Singaporean society. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar pointed out that during Modi’s tour, the visit to the semiconductor testing facility was one aspect while the establishment of a Thiruvalluvar centre was another, both showing the modern and traditional aspects of engagement with Singapore.
Singapore is now quite openly appreciative of India’s potential and dynamism. Their leadership and business community were appreciative of the reforms undertaken in India. They expressed enthusiasm to enhance cooperation with India in this phase of development.
The visit to Singapore was well prepared with the unique ‘4X4’ ministerial engagement (formally called India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR))—held as a preparation for the summit. At that meeting, Indian ministers of finance, external affairs, commerce, industry, IT, and railways participated; from the Singapore side, the Deputy PM-led delegation had ministers of finance, foreign affairs, home affairs, law and digital development, among others. They identified six pillars for bilateral cooperation, and an ambitious plan is underway. From this year, advanced manufacturing (especially semiconductors) and connectivity were added as two new pillars.
Clearly, the agenda from the Singapore side is also being diversified, including to cover areas where India has had concerns over recent years with the diaspora in Singapore.
The visit built upon the fact that Singapore is one of the steady partners India has in the region and the largest economic partner in ASEAN. 90 per cent of investment exchanges between India and ASEAN take place with Singapore. Singapore has become a good conduit, though much of the flows also emanate from Singapore. Indian companies find Singapore comfortable and the place to start their access into a wider region. In recent years, Indian companies have started to move from the growing localisation and costs of operating out of Singapore to other locations like Indonesia and Malaysia, which are bigger markets for them.
Four MOUs on digital technologies, semiconductors, health cooperation, and skill development were signed during the visit. The most important of them is on semiconductors. Singapore has got a strong semiconductor base.
India seeks a surge in chip making and semiconductor manufacturing to expand its partnership and participation in the global economy. Besides Taiwan in South Korea, with whom India is engaging more deeply, it is Singapore, which is now the focus of this segment. For chip production, Singapore intends to support India’s capacity, and India will facilitate Singaporean companies and the development of supply chains in its large market. Singapore has 10 per cent of global chipmaking production and 20 per cent of semiconductor-related production. It leads in ‘specialty chips’ important for cars, phones, and similar production.
Singaporean analysts have generally been critical of India’s unrealised potential and appreciative of the opportunities that China has provided them. This led to a thought imbalance in their perceptions of China and India. However, post-pandemic, Singapore thought leaders realised that there are limitations to the Chinese opportunity, and Chinese economic constraints are limiting Singapore’s access.
While India’s story remains work in progress, there is a much more positive appreciation that India is now the main growth leader among major economies. With a faster rate of growth than many and its potential better realised, reforms initiated over the last few years have shown the intent and the promise that can be harnessed. Singapore now perhaps intends to show greater intent to be a consistent participant, at a more rapid pace in India’s growth story.
India does not ask Singapore to choose between India and China; India seeks to provide Singapore with a great opportunity for which it is happy to collaborate. In this, the China plus one syndrome is coming to the fore as Singapore too chases varied supply chains.
Strategically, Singapore avoids riling China. In the joint statement, it did not hesitate to mention the South China Sea and the need for an early and fair Code of Conduct keeping UNCLOS in view. For the first time, an ASEAN country acknowledged the role of Quad formally by appreciating Quad’s support for ASEAN centrality and its Indo-Pacific agenda.
India and Singapore are now heading to a more determined and focused partnership that will go beyond the ASEAN principles and adopt a modern outlook to become a part of the Indian development narrative.
The author is a former ambassador to Germany, Indonesia, Ethiopia, ASEAN and the African Union. He tweets @AmbGurjitSingh. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
