ASEAN Asks India to Reconsider Its Stance on Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership

Observers have claimed that New Delhi’s decision to not join RCEP has been driven by escalated fears of cheaper imports from China and south-east Asian nations flooding the Indian market and affecting the domestic industry. India has said that its overall ties with China have been affected by the Ladakh border tensions that started in May 2020.

The secretary-general of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Thursday asked New Delhi to reconsider its stance on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world's largest trade bloc, which includes the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states as well as their five free trade agreement partners (Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea).

"The door for India to join the RCEP is still open," Dato Paduka Lim Jock Hoi said during his address at the ministerial session of the 12th edition of ‘Delhi Dialogue’, an event which seeks to strengthen ASEAN-India ties.

He further highlighted the "importance" of ASEAN-India trade ties in "facilitating trade, investment and value chains in the post-pandemic recovery and (economic) rebuilding". Lim Jock Hoi further proposed several measures in facilitating the trade exchanges between ASEAN and India through measures aimed at boosting supply chain resilience, logistics and regulatory practices.

The Indian capital on Thursday hosted the top diplomats of 10 southeast Asian nations—Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam— for a ‘Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (SAIFMM)’. The meeting and the event afterwards was held to commemorate 30 years of India-ASEAN “dialogue relations”, according to the Indian foreign ministry.

Indian foreign minister S. Jaishankar lauded the role of ASEAN as a “beacon of regionalism, multilateralism and globalisation” during his opening remarks at the meeting.

“It has successfully carved out a niche for itself in the region and provided the foundation for the evolving strategic and economic architecture in the Indo-Pacific,” Jaishankar said.

The Indian foreign minister said that India and ASEAN must now “identify a new set of priorities” under the “current global uncertainties”.

A co-chairs statement after the meeting said that both the sides will strengthen defence and economic cooperation as well as work towards promoting peace, stability, and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region.

The statement also said that both the sides will strive to “achieve the full potential of ASEAN-India trade and economic partnership”. The governments of the 11 countries also vowed to commence an early “review” of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA).

The statement didn’t mention any talk on RCEP, reflecting New Delhi’s hesitation regarding the 15-member trade pact.

RCEP Against India's 'National Interest'

India pulled out of RCEP negotiations in November 2019, with New Delhi saying that it was against “India's economic interest and national priorities”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the other pact partners had failed to address New Delhi's "outstanding issues and concerns", amid adverse economic impact on the domestic agriculture, dairy sector, medium and small enterprises (MSMEs) and domestic manufacturing sectors.

Since its decision to pull out of RCEP, however, India has agreed to free trade agreements with Australia and the UAE, and is negotiations regarding other ones with the UK, EU and Israel.

At the time of India's decision to withdraw from negotiations in 2019, other RCEP members had said that the door for India to reconsider its decision would "remain open".