India’s ‘multipolar Asia’ and China
August 28, 2019
Research Fellow, IDSA, Dr. Jagannath Panda’s piece ‘India’s ‘Multipolar Asia’ and China’ has been published at the East Asia Forum, Vol.1, No.2, 2019.
The author argues that India’s vision for a multipolar Asia rests on three critical elements. First, India aims to make global governance more equitable, pluralistic and representative; Second, minor and major powers in Asia must have a shared role in regional decision-making. Third, India’s push for multipolarity is inclusivity, rather than exclusivity. Multipolarity allows space for an external power like the United States to contribute to the region’s evolving security architecture. It also allows India to promote a regional paradigm of ‘shared leadership’ among the three major Asian powers: India, China and Japan. From New Delhi’s perspective, if the United States is excluded from Asia, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s proposition of an ‘Asia for Asians’ will remain only a nomenclature, making Asia a China-dominated region.
A longer version of the article can be read at: East Asia Forum Quarterly, Vol.1, No.2, 2019.
