The Study Of India’s Look East Policy During The Period Of Manmohan Singh Administration

"Look East Policy" was proposed in India in the1990s as an important diplomatic strategy. In the21st century, the Policy developed rapidly and entered the second stage. This paper briefly introduces the domestic and international background before the second stage of "Look East Policy". This article focuses on the characteristics of evolution and development of India’s "Look East Policy" as Manmohan Singh was in power, and analyzes domestic and international factors of the change. Besides this paper sums up the achievements of Singh’s "Look East Policy", and analyzes its influence on domestic economy, India-China relations, regional and international order.Because of its efficient economic reforms, India’s economy has entered a rapid development in the21st century. Its services become India’s mainstay industry especially. However, there are still many problems in India’s domestic economic development, including its imbalanced economic development, the uneven distribution of resources between urban and rural areas, and the uneven distribution of personal wealth. The government expenditure is limited in terms of infrastructure, and foreign investment is in badly need to improve the domestic infrastructure."Look East Policy" is an important channel for attracting foreign investment. In2001, the outbreak of the terrorist attacks on9·11, has drawn worldwide and strong attention to safety, and it also provides an opportunity for countries to strengthen cooperation against "terror". Regional cooperation becomes more and more important among ASEAN countries with the symbol of the establishment of the ASEAN Free Trade Area in2002. The establishment of AFT A dramatically reduces trade tariffs between ASEAN countries and brings tangible economic benefits. As the neighbor of ASEAN, India notices the great potential of "Look East Policy". Since India’s independence, under the influence of the founding Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Indians have a strong feeling of powers complex, desire to be recognized as a world power rather than a regional power, which also affects the development of "Look East Policy"After Singh came into power, on the basis of the first stage of "Look East Policy", to, run "balancing diplomacy" to expand its influence in East Asia and Southeast Asia area and achieve its "great power ambitions". Besides the government actively carry out economic and security cooperation with Asia-Pacific countries. On the one hand, India deepens economic and trade cooperation with ASEAN with the establishment of "India-ASEAN Free Trade Area", and expands the field of cooperation into military and security. On the other hand, India pays more attention to promote dialogues with China, Japan and Australia. India and China are both large developing countries rising rapidly. However the border issue between the two countries led to three border conflict in the20th century, which resulted in the relations falling to freezing point. China and India has undergone reform and opening one after another, and rise rapidly in the21st century as the representative of the emerging countries. India-China relation has become an important issue of Manmohan Singh government in its "Look East Policy". India-Japan relations have witnessed rapid warming in the21st century, mainly due to the complementary structure of economies, and the same appeal in the pursuit of permanent members on the UN. In addition, India and Japan have territorial disputes with China and worry about China’s rapid rise, so India and Japan approach each other with the consideration of balancing China. Australia has a vast territory and rich natural resources with a sparse population, the development of India-Australia relations during the second stage of "Look East Policy", can attract foreign capital and expand India’s influence in the Asia-Pacific region.The development of the second stage of the Singh government’s "Look East Policy", has made India get rid of diplomatic isolation after the end of the Cold War, become a important power in the Asia-Pacific geo-policy which have significant impact on bilateral, multilateral and regional affairs in the Asia-Pacific.