_{^{India Acts East in the Indo-Pacific}} 

ABSTRACT:

In 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the Act East Policy as a cornerstone of his government’s foreign policy priorities. Like the Look East Policy of 1991, the Act East aims to bolster India’s engagement with its Southeast Asian neighbors; however, unlike its predecessor, New Delhi’s contemporary eastern outlook is fueled by a reinvigorated position to play a larger and more proactive role as an alternative security partner to the region against the backdrop of contributing to the maintenance of the established order. This comes at a time when China has not only been provoking the security environment of Southeast Asia’s maritime domain, but also the status quo of the Indian Ocean region. Moreover, with the rise of the Indo-Pacific construct, India’s Act East gained more momentum given the increasingly interconnected security dynamics of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Therefore, as Southeast Asian are becoming increasingly constrained in positioning themselves within the US-China power competition, India presents itself as an alternative option amid regional geopolitical uncertainty. While limitations remain in maintaining a robust presence in Southeast Asia, New Delhi willing to take up the challenge.   

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Don McLain Gill is a Manila-based geopolitical analyst, author, and lecturer at the Department of International Studies, De La Salle University. His work centers on Philippine foreign policy, India Southeast Asia relations, and Indo-Pacific security. He has written in the forms of books, book chapters, peer-reviewed international journal articles, newspaper columns, and commentary articles for renowned international affairs publications such as The Diplomat, The National Interest, Nikkei Asia, RUSI, and The East-West Center, among others.

Mr. Gill is also a non-resident fellow at the Stratbase ADR Institute, a visiting senior fellow at the Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI), and a research fellow at the USANAS Foundation.Mr. Gill is also interviewed often by international television channels including ABC, BBC, CNA, DW, and Al Jazeera. Furthermore, he also serves as an external reviewer for manuscripts submitted to various peer-reviewed and scopes-indexed international journals.

REGISTRATION:

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