The ongoing South China Sea dispute, involving five Asian nations including China, Vietnam and the Philippines, has been a constant reminder of the simmering tensions in the region, despite the mostly ineffectual attempts of 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to resolve the tangle.
"From 1989, we have seen a series of moves at stabilising and improving our bilateral relations. Nevertheless, China's rapid economic growth and the consequential growth of its military power, the complexities of its polity and society make for a combination which would require very careful handling and consideration," Swaraj said at a lecture at the Institute of South Asia Studies.
"This is not just for India, but perhaps for all its neighbours, and all powers that interface with China. In the case of the India-China interface, the problem is more complex, since the interface comprises both a very direct maritime, and also a continental, dimension," she said.
Swaraj, however, pointed to the need for a robust maritime perspective in India's engagement with Southeast and East Asia saying although a part of the country's foreign policy, it could be "even more deeply embedded". "We cannot disregard our continental compulsions whether in the Northwest, in the North or in the Northeast. Nevertheless, we have to balance these compulsions with a maritime perspective in which our southern peninsula becomes the heart and mind of our foreign policy," she said.
Southeast Asia and Asean could also have a role to play in India's increasing engagement with North Asia, Swaraj said, not only as "a bridge and a fulcrum" between India and the region, but also as a "political and economic association" with strong links to India.
