EAST
ASIA SUMMIT - INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
News: Dhankhar highlights EAS role in free Indo-Pacific
What's
in the news?
● Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar addressed
the 17th East Asia Summit (EAS) here, during which he highlighted global
concerns on food and energy security, and emphasised the role of the EAS
mechanism in promoting free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific with freedom of
navigation and overflight.
● The US, India and several other world powers have been discussing the need to ensure a free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China’s rising military manoeuvring in the region.
What
is the East Asia Summit?
● East Asia Summit is an ASEAN initiative and refers to the annual Meeting of Heads of States/Governments of these countries, where they are able to discuss common concerns and interests.
Members:
●
There are 18 members participating in the summit.
●
Beginning in 2005, 16 participating
countries comprised this grouping, with their first meeting in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
●
ASEAN’s 10 member countries are Brunei,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand, and Vietnam.
Key features:
●
Its creation was based on the idea of
enhancing cooperation among East Asian countries and those in the neighbouring
regions.
●
Six
priority areas of cooperation were identified –
environment and energy, education, finance, global health issues and pandemic
diseases, natural disaster management, and ASEAN Connectivity.
●
In the past, the issues of claims over the
South China Sea, the United Nations Convention on the Law Of the Sea,
terrorism, the actions of North Korea and the conflict situation in Myanmar
have been discussed by the countries.
What are the EAS’s links with India?
●
This year marks the 30th anniversary of ASEAN-India relations and is being celebrated
as the ASEAN-India Friendship Year.
●
In a joint statement, ASEAN-India acknowledged
the deep civilisational linkages,
maritime connectivity, and cross-cultural exchanges between Southeast Asia and
India which have grown stronger over the last 30 years, providing a strong
foundation for ASEAN-India relations.
●
ASEAN-India
Strategic Partnership stands on a strong foundation of shared
geographical, historical and civilizational ties. ASEAN is central to our Act
East Policy and our wider vision of the Indo-Pacific.