Canberra, July 18 (IANS) India has emerged as a valuable partner for ASEAN by focusing its cooperation on areas where the regional bloc seeks support, while remaining least concerned about dependence. When disaster strikes maritime Southeast Asia — whether a typhoon across the mainland, an earthquake in Myanmar, or a vessel in distress in the Andaman Sea — the true measure is not who is most powerful, but who responds first, how quickly, and at what cost, a report has stated.
Highlighting India’s rapid humanitarian response during major disasters in South-east Asia, a report in Australia-based ‘The Interpreter’ said, “When Typhoon Yagi tore across mainland Southeast Asia in September 2024, India launched ‘Operation Sadbhav’, sending relief to Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar within days. Six months later, when a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar, India was among the first responders, launching ‘Operation Brahma’ with naval ships, air-force lift, a search-and-rescue team and a field hospital that treated more than 2,500 patients.”
It noted that operations like these have reshaped regional perceptions, with the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute survey ranking India as a rising partner in the region and indicating that the country is increasingly seen as a provider of practical security rather than a claimant of regional leadership.
“Southeast Asia is crowded with outside powers offering help at sea. But for a region whose guiding instinct is to avoid being trapped in anyone else’s rivalry, help is rarely free. The United States brings unmatched capability, and with it the entanglements of alliance politics. China brings proximity and resources, alongside the very coercion in the South China Sea the region needs protecting from. Both, in different ways, ask Southeast Asian states to edge towards one pole of a contest they would rather avoid,” the report detailed.
“India’s value is easy to overlook, precisely because it is so understated: capable enough to matter at sea – with one of the region’s larger navies and the reach to patrol, exercise and respond across Southeast Asian waters – but without the strategic baggage that would force ASEAN states to take sides. It has no territorial or maritime dispute with any Southeast Asian country – a quiet but crucial distinction from China – and the region has noticed. As Southeast Asian nations look to diversify their partnerships beyond the US and China, India falls within that bracket,” it added.
Citing the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute’s 2025 State of Southeast Asia survey, the report said that India’s strategic relevance to ASEAN climbed from ninth to sixth place within a year. It also identified India as one of the region’s preferred partners for hedging against US–China rivalry, reflecting its growing position as a trusted capacity-building partner.
–IANS
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