India a factor for stability in East Asian region: Jaswant

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE, JUNE 2. A diplomatic case was made today that ``India is a factor for stability'' in the East Asian region. India is ``not reinventing the Cold War,'' according to the visiting External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh.

Delivering a distinguished lecture under the auspices of the prestigious Singapore-based Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, Mr. Singh said that ``the engagement of a militarily stronger, economically prosperous, democratic and secular India imparts greater stability to the region.''

Defending the induction of nuclear weapons by India, Mr. Singh sought to allay a ``misplaced'' perception in some quarters that a radical shift had occurred in the Indian security paradigm as a result of this policy.

Mr. Singh said: ``We believe that the over exercise of this option by India (to make nuclear weapons) has helped to remove potentially dangerous strategic ambiguities in the region. It has enhanced the strategic space of the country and granted to it the needed strategic autonomy.''

Emphasising India's ``awareness of and commitment to greater restraint'' in these circumstances, Mr. Singh said that this accounted for New Delhi's conscious attempt to ``reassure countries in the region.'' He said that this was being done ``primarily through the annoucement of intention to maintain only a minimum credible deterrent and a policy of no-first use'' of the atomic weapon.

The nuclear arms testing had not altered the essentially ``defensive character'' of India's security policy and ``we have no intention of engaging in any arms race,'' Mr. Singh said.

To meet the ``increased responsibilities'' as a State with nuclear weapons and a social conscience on the world stage, India had also sought to enhance the scope of confidence-building measures (CBMs) in respect of its neighbours. In consonance with these aspects of a security posture, India had already decided to ``fully respect the status of the nuclear free zone in South East Asia.'' Mr. Singh said that New Delhi was ``ready to convert this commitment into a legal obligation.'' He also called for the establishment and institutionalisation of ``strategic dialogues'' between India, on the one side and the countries within the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

On India's participation in the ASEAN Regional Forum since 1996, the Minister said: ``We see in the ARF an experiment for fashioning new, pluralistic, cooperative security order, in tune with the diversity of the Asia-Pacific region and in consonance with transition from a world characterised by balance of power and competing military alliances.'' Mr. Singh spelt out India's appreciation of and willingness to face major non- military challenges of a new security paradigm across the world.

The Singapore Foreign Minister, Prof. S. Jayakumar, said in his opening remarks that India was bound to be an integral part of any new regional or global security architecture. Prof. Jayakumar spoke of the ``strategic triangle of relations between the U.S., China and Japan'' as the enduring ``foundation of Asia-Pacific stability and growth.''

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Section  : International
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