Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, three of India’s most important partners in Southeast Asia, could not have come at a more important moment in Indian foreign policy positioning. In the past few months, the government has shifted considerably in its signalling, with Mr. Modi visiting China and Russia for informal summits with Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, respectively. The fact that these visits have taken place at a time the U.S. administration has sharpened its aim at China and Russia with sanctions and threats of a trade war suggests Mr. Modi is also attempting to moderate India’s strategic posturing on the global stage, and striving for a more balanced approach in what it increasingly sees as an uncertain world. India has also maintained its commitment to relations with the U.S. in order to build a “free and open” Indo-Pacific region, maintain the “international rules-based order”, and work together to combat terrorism and terror financing — as they have done more recently at the UN and the Financial Action Task Force. Meanwhile, India’s membership of both the Quadrilateral(with the U.S., Japan and Australia) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (the Russia-China-led grouping of Central Asian countries, whose summit Mr. Modi will attend this week) is also an indicator of the new balance that New Delhi seeks.

It is significant that in Singapore Mr. Modi chose the platform of the Shangri-La Dialogue of defence leaders of the Asia-Pacific region to emphasise Indian “strategic autonomy”. In his speech on the concept of the “Indo-Pacific” he referred to India’s relations with Russia, the U.S. and China. Given his government’s particular distaste for the term in the past, it is telling that Mr. Modi appeared to be channelling some of the “Bandung spirit of 1955” that led to the formation of the Non-Aligned Movement, when he praised Singapore for teaching the world the importance of making “free and fair choices” and “embracing diversity at home”. “When nations stand on the side of principles, not behind one power or the other, they earn the respect of the world,” Mr. Modi said as he unveiled a seven-point vision for the Indo-Pacific region. While warning the world about the possible return of “great power rivalries”, he emphasised the importance and centrality of the ASEAN in the concept of the Indo-Pacific. The “principled” vision Mr. Modi projects is a departure from the transactionalism and pragmatism espoused by many in South Block over the last few years. However, it may also be a return to familiar moorings of Indian foreign policy, necessitated by what the Prime Minister identified as the “shifting plates of global politics and the fault lines of history”.

1. moorings (noun) – stabilizing influence/power.
2. sanctions (noun) – action taken, or an order given to force a country to obey international laws by limiting or stopping trade with that country, by not allowing economic aid for that country, etc (Courtesy: VOA Learning English).
3. trade war (noun) – a condition in which a country increase tariffs on foreign goods and impose quota restrictions to restrict other countries’ trade.
4. moderate (verb) – decrease, diminish, calm down.
5. posture (noun) – attitude, standpoint, approach.
6. strive for (verb) – try, attempt, make an effort (to achieve something).
7. combat (verb) – fight against, oppose, tackle/resist.
8. quadrilateral (noun) – (in this context) a group with four countries (which having an informal strategic dialogue between the United States, Japan, Australia and India).
9. Strategic autonomy (noun) – the ability of a state (country) to pursue its national interests and adopt its preferred foreign policy without being constrained in any manner by other states.
10. distaste (noun) – dislike, disfavour, aversion.
11. telling (adjective) – significant, meaningful, revealing/striking.
12. Bandung spirit (noun) – a meeting of Asian and African states-organized by Indonesia in Bandung city in 1955-post colonial states united their forces and proposed alternatives to the world order dominated by the superpowers.
13. embrace (verb) – accept, approve, adopt.
14. unveil (verb) – present, disclose, make public.
15. centrality (noun) – important/essential part of something.
16. departure (noun) – difference, dissimilarity/variance; deviation.
17. transactionalism (noun) – a philosophical method of social exchange.
18. pragmatism (noun) – realism, practicability, logical thinking.
19. espouse (verb) – adopt, embrace; support/endorse (a cause).
20. South Block (noun) – The Secretariat Building (consists North & South Block) or Central Secretariat is where the Cabinet Secretariat is housed, which administers the Government of India. The South Blockhouses the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of External Affairs.
21. necessitate (verb) – require, make necessary, demand.
22. plate (noun)  -structure, formation.
23. fault line (noun) – a divisive issue, difference of opinion.
24. shangri - la - an imaginary, beautiful place, often far away, where everything is pleasant and you can get everything you want

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