PRESIDENT KALAM LOOKS FARTHER EAST FOR NEW

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 NEW DELHI 001174

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/15/2016
TAGS: PREL ASEAN ENRG KNNP ETRD ECON SOCI SCUL MASS
KS, SN, RP, IN
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT KALAM LOOKS FARTHER EAST FOR NEW
PARTNERSHIPS

REF: A. 05 NEW DELHI 5704

B. MANILA 0685

C. SEOUL 0510

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Classified By: PolCouns Geoff Pyatt for Reasons 1.4 (B, D)


1. (C) Summary: Giving new reach to India's "Look East"
policy, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam's January 31 to February
9 visit to Singapore, the Philippines and South Korea
produced new education, defense and economic initiatives in a
region whose importance to the GOI is growing steadily.
During the trip, the President announced negotiations for a
Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with South
Korea, signed a defense agreement for cooperation in maritime
security with the Philippines and took initial steps towards
an educational partnership with Singapore. Upon his return
on February 12, Kalam further highlighted the importance of
the Indian Navy's role in Maritime Security in Southeast Asia
and the Pacific Ocean while attending the President's Fleet
Review, held for the first time on India's east coast in
Visakhapatnam. Although the GOI has been "looking east"
since 1991, the DCM of the Singapore High Commission
commented that the President's focus on India's Look East
Policy shows that India is "not just looking east, but
finally doing east." Striving to duplicate the benefits of
closer Indian and Japanese cooperation, economics and
security interests are motivating the GOI to look farther
east. Unspoken in all these overtures is India's desire to
reciprocate China's encroachment in the Indian Ocean area.
End Summary.

Singapore Seizes Education Opportunities
--------------


2. (SBU) President Kalam's first stop on his Asian tour was
Singapore, India's closest economic and defense partner in
Southeast Asia. Reciprocating the Singaporean President's
2003 visit to India, Kalam highlighted educational
opportunities between the two countries. During Kalam's
January 31 to February 3 visit, the Indian Institute of
Science signed an MoU with the National University of
Singapore (NUS) to set up a NUS College in Bangalore. The
MoU came on the heels of a reversal of the Ministry of Human
Resource Development's decision to ban the Indian Institute
of Management-Bangalore from setting up a campus in
Singapore. Launching a new Indian initiative known as the
World Knowledge Platform, Kalam suggested that Asia could use
information technology to create a Virtual University Grid.
As Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis Senior Fellow
Dr. G.V.C. Naidu noted, Singapore is trying to develop links
with India in order to cement its status as a regional
education center. He suggested that educational links are
another recruiting tool for bringing in Indian science and IT
talent into the Singaporean economy.

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3. (C) Singapore High Commission DCM Lee Lorling commented
that President Kalam's trip is another sign that India has
"finally moved beyond merely Looking East to actually Doing
East." Lorling reported that the GOI has approved an Army
Colonel as the Singapore High Commission's first Defense
Attach, and the governments are working on an agreement for
Singapore to use India's Kalaikunda base in West Bengal for
its military exercises. After signing a Comprehensive
Economic Partnership Agreement in July 2005, the GOI is now
considering a proposal to create a Special Economic Zone-like
environment to encourage greater investment in India.
Singapore hopes to partner with the Japanese, who want to
invest more in India but "need a more comfortable and
controlled business environment." IDSA's Naidu observed that
the Singaporeans are scheduled to join in a Track II Seminar
hosted by IDSA and the Japanese Institute for International
Affairs in Tokyo on March 9 to discuss opportunities for
trilateral cooperation.

Indian Cooperation Matches Philippines Priorities
-------------- --------------


4. (SBU) The President's trip to Manila signaled an enhanced
Indian interest in the Philippines and resulted in new
opportunities for cooperation in maritime security,
agriculture and information technology. According to Iric
Arribas from the Philippines Embassy, New Delhi has
previously not taken much interest in Manila; there was a 16
year gap since the last Indian Presidential visit and the
Philippines repeatedly requested the GOI to return President
Ramos' visit to India in 1997. As Arribas observed about the
relationship, India had not "looked far east enough." In a
speech at a banquet hosted by President Macapagal-Arroyo,
Kalam observed that "it is a matter of satisfaction that our
bilateral relations are beginning, after a long period of
stagnation, to deepen and diversify." With Indian
interaction limited to the approximately 30,000 illegal
Indian immigrants in the Philippines, many of whom engage in
exploitative lending, a recently released BBC World Service
poll reported that Philippine views about India are more
negative than any other country in the world.


5. (C) As Indian trade through the South China Sea and the
Pacific Ocean increased and the Navy focused on maritime
security, New Delhi has recognized the Philippines' role in
securing these South China Sea lanes. During President
Kalam's February 3-6 visit, the GOI signed the first Defense
Agreement with Manila to increase ship visits, training and
exchanges at military schools (Ref B). Kalam noted that "the
Philippines, which lies in the cusp of Southeast and East
Asia, is of great interest to this (Look East) strategic
vision which remains incomplete without your country's
fullest participation in it."

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6. (C) Kalam also explored two initiatives to enhance
capabilities in agriculture and information technology.
MEA's Undersecretary (South) Ramesh Kumar reported that
President Kalam signed an agriculture agreement to boost
exchanges, begin training in the dairy sector, launch a joint
venture in rice production and explore alternative sources of
energy such as biofuel. Arribas suggested that the
Philippines is trying to emulate India's success in
information technology, and sees room for "co-optition" with
Indian IT skills. The Philippines is taking advantage of its
English language base and young demographics to set itself up
as a "backup site" for American companies or outsourcing from
Indian companies. Arribas reported that the Indian National
Association for Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) is
planning a trip to Manila to find ways for the two software
industries to complement each others' operations.

India Deepens Economic Relations with Korea
--------------


7. (C) Although Seoul is one of the biggest investors in the
Indian economy, Kalam was the first Indian president ever to
visit the Republic of Korea. After two years of FTA joint
study group meetings, India and Korea announced the beginning
of negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership
Agreement covering goods and services (Ref C). India signed
a similar agreement with Singapore in July 2005, but the
Korean Embassy's Political Counselor Hyun-Dong Cho noted that
these negotiations will be a test case for New Delhi's
ability to push through agreements with "OECD countries and
major world economies." The negotiations are scheduled to
begin in March, with a deadline set for the end of 2007. Cho
observed that although there is some non-proliferation
related resistance to the US-India civil nuclear agreement
within the Korean government, Korean businesses such as
Hyundai and Samsung are eyeing opportunities to supply future
civil nuclear facilities through joint ventures with American
companies in the field.


8. (C) MEA's South Korea Desk Officer Raveesh Kumar noted
that interest in Indian-Korean relations has significantly
increased on both sides, particularly with the appointment of
Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon. Ki-moon began his career in
India, and visited New Delhi in August 2005 for the most
recent bilateral Joint Commission Meeting. Although the
emphasis of the relationship is on economic content, like
India's ties with Japan and Singapore, Kumar noted that the
relationship is rounding out to include science and
technology, IT, and cultural exchanges. During the visit,
India and Korea signed a science and technology agreement and
a customs MoU to simplify procedures. Kumar predicted that
high-level visits will become an annual event. (NOTE:
Koreans form a significant and growing expatriate community

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in New Delhi. Many work for large Korean firms doing
business in India. END NOTE.)

Kalam Outlines Navy's Future in Maritime Security
-------------- --------------


9. (C) Three days after his return, President Kalam
underlined the importance of India's eastern waters when he
held the first ever President's Fleet Review at the east
coast city of Visakhapatnam. The naval fleet review is held
once during the tenure of each President, and all previous
reviews since 1953 have been held in the west coast city of
Mumbai. In his address to the Navy, Kalam noted that "the
economic growth of the region depends on heavy transportation
in the Indian Ocean, particularly in the Strait of Malacca.
The Navy has an increasing role to provide the support
necessary for carrying out these operations." Navy Chief
Admiral Arun Prakash, widely held to be the principal
ideologue of the Navy's decision to engage with countries in
the Indian Ocean region, proclaimed that "We are now poised
to take our place as a regional power." IDSA's G.V.C. Naidu,
a maritime security specialist, commented that India is
boosting relations with Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam,
Thailand, Burma and now the Philippines to become a regional
supply and training hub. He suggested that many of these
countries support a greater role for India to counterbalance
Chinese influence.

COMMENT: India Should Keep Looking East
--------------


10. (C) MEA's Raveesh Kumar joked that "if India looks any
father east, it will eventually get to America." After a
short pause, he realized that is exactly what New Delhi is
doing. The GOI has not forgotten that Singapore, Korea and
the Philippines, close US partners, were all supportive of
India's efforts to balance out Chinese influence at the
December 2005 East Asian Summit. Korea and Singapore are
pushing for economic openings that will also benefit US
businesses. As Indian security and economic interests push
the GOI to look farther east, this dynamic also helps us
achieve many of our strategic foreign policy goals in Asia.
Although driven largely by economic synergies (epitomized by
the Philippines' aspiration to be a "back office" to
Bangalore and Hyderabad),this Asian thrust also has
significant strategic implications that will be closely
watched in Beijing and beyond.


11. (U) Visit New Delhi's Classified Website:
(http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/sa/newdelhi/)
MULFORD