मलेशिया नहीं जाएंगे मोदी, ट्रम्प से मुलाकात फिर टली: PM आसियान समिट में शामिल नहीं होंगे, एस जयशंकर करेंगे प्रतिनिधित्व

Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Malaysia has been postponed. He will not attend the ASEAN Summit. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim gave this information by posting on Instagram.

PM Ibrahim wrote- Today I got a call from PM Modi. We discussed further strengthening India-Malaysia relations. We also talked about ASEAN Summit during this period. Modi told me that he will participate in this summit online.

It is noteworthy that if Modi had gone to Malaysia, he could have met Trump. Even before this in September, Modi had not gone to America to attend the UNGA summit. According to reports, Foreign Minister Jaishankar can participate in the ASEAN Summit in place of Jaishankar.

Modi will not go to participate in ASEAN Summit for the first time

Modi has attended the ASEAN Summit 12 times so far. The ASEAN Summit was held virtually for two years in 2020 and 2021. Then Modi had participated in it online.

The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) summit will be held in Kuala Lumpur from October 26 to 28. No official statement has been issued on the level of India’s participation in the summit-related deliberations.

Modi participated in the ASEAN Summit in Vientiane, the capital of Laos on October 10.

Trump will visit Malaysia on October 26

Malaysia has invited US President Donald Trump as well as leaders of several ASEAN partner countries. Trump will visit Kuala Lumpur on October 26 on a two-day visit.

ASEAN is a group of 10 countries

ASEAN was established in Bangkok in 1967. It is a regional organization of South-East Asian countries. Its full name is Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). It has a total of 10 member countries, which include Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Brunei and Laos.

India had signed Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) with ASEAN countries in 2022. Under this, work is done together to enhance defence, economic and technological interests. At the same time, India is strengthening relations with ASEAN countries to counter China in this region.

ASEAN formed amidst enmity between America and Russia

After the end of the Second World War in 1945, the countries of South East Asia got independence from the occupation of Japan and Western countries. Their war with Japan ended, but they started fighting among themselves over ideology and border disputes. This was also the period of the ongoing cold war between America and the Soviet Union.

Niranjan Oak, an expert on ASEAN affairs at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies, explains – In the 1965 coup in Indonesia, the Sukarno government supported by China fell. After this, the ongoing war between Malaysia and Indonesia also ended in 1966. However, America’s war against the communists was still going on in Vietnam.

Then in 1967, 5 countries of South East Asia forgot their mutual enmity and met in Bangkok. These included Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. These countries decided that they would stop the spread of communism i.e. leftist ideology and work for the peace and prosperity of the region.

This was the beginning of the foundation of ASEAN i.e. Association of South East Asian Nations. After the end of the Cold War in the 1990s, 5 new countries Cambodia, Vietnam, Brunei, Laos and Myanmar also joined this organization. These countries decided to increase economic partnership with each other, so that despite any kind of dispute, there would be no war between them. Now ASEAN consists of 10 countries.

FTA between India and ASEAN countries 15 years ago

The relationship between India and ASEAN countries dates back to the 1990s. When Narasimha Rao’s government started the Act East Policy in 1992. The British magazine The Economist published a report on this on 6 March 1997. It was written that Nehru always considered the countries of South East Asia as the lackeys of the Western countries which are now emerging as economic models for India.

The Economist wrote that India is improving its economy by following the footsteps of ASEAN countries. In fact, after mutual differences ended, ASEAN countries started rapid economic development. ASEAN became a group of rapidly emerging developing economies, which all countries wanted to join. Singapore’s per capita income is much better than many developed countries.

In 2010, after about 6 years of meetings, India signed a Free Trade Agreement with ASEAN countries. When BJP government was formed in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi upgraded India’s Look East Policy and changed it to Act East Policy.