Opinion My enemys enemy,now my friend
The South Korea President Lee Myung-baks visit to India and his being the chief guest for the Republic Day celebration this year are symbolic...
The South Korea President Lee Myung-baks visit to India and his being the chief guest for the Republic Day celebration this year are symbolic of a growing proximity and diversifications of relations between the two countries. The bilateral relations,which had more economic overtones with the opening up of the Indian economy in the early 1990s,has been gradually deepening and diversifying into several other areas of cooperation. The need to have a more comprehensive partnership has already been recognised by the both countries.
Both the countries started negotiations for a comprehensive partnership after the former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyuns visit to India in 2004 and Indian President A.P.J. Kalams visit to South Korea in 2006. The next South Korean President Lee Myung-bak also recognised the significance of India in emerging Asian dynamics (even during his campaign for the Presidential election); he visited India in late 2007. His present visit to India is an important step in the same direction.
India and South Koreas economic relations are the bedrock of their mutual cooperation. Both the countries have worked enthusiastically to arrive at a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA),which was signed during Commerce Minister Anand Sharmas visit to South Korea a few months back. The agreement is expected to provide further impetus to their growing economic relationship. It is pertinent to mention that bilateral trade between India and South Korea already surpassed $15 billion in 2008 and has gone far ahead from the volume of India-Japan bilateral trade. It is spectacular if we remember that our bilateral trade in 1990 was a meager $0.5 billion and even without the CEPA,bilateral economic relations have grown leaps and bounds. The growing economic exchanges between the two countries could be attributed to their mutual complementarities. South Korean capital and technology along with Indian cheap labour and a growing middle class market,make economic cooperation beneficial for both the countries. In the IT sector also,Indian expertise in software and Korean advancement in hardware gel quite well with each other. Apart from bilateral trade,both countries have shown interest in the FDI sector. Whereas,South Korean conglomerate POSCO has been patiently working for a $12 billion investment in a steel plant in Orrisa,TATA has invested in Daweoo Motors. At the multilateral fora also,both countries have been working together,such as in ASEAN+3 framework.
In recent years,India and South Korea have been working to evolve a common approach towards various political and strategic issues in regional politics. There are several push and pull factors which have forced both the countries to take a common stance on these issues. The most remarkable among them is growing strategic understanding between India and the US. South Korea,which has been a close ally of the US since its very inception,now shares various common concerns with India. The old political equations of the Cold War have given way to new thinking and adjustment and it has definitely brought both countries closer to each other. The emerging Asian strategic landscape has also brought India and South Korea together in which the rise of China has been looked at as a challenge and an opportunity. It is a challenge for both India and South Korea,if China tries to dominate regional politics and resorts to any aggressive intention. However,both countries could work together and try to persuade China to abandon any aggressive posturing and evolve a cooperative security framework in Asian politics.
India and South Korean strategic perspectives also converged with the emergence of the problem of nuclear and missile programmes of North Korea and Pakistan. It is a fact that North Korea and Pakistan provided technological know-hows to each other,in which North Korea provided missile-related technology to Pakistan and in return,Pakistan provided nuclear weapons related technology to North Korea. India and South Korea are quite troubled by their neighbours,which have shown even less responsibility in recent years. There is scepticism about the domestic instability in North Korea and Pakistan and accidental use of nuclear weapons in case of desperation or last resort. India and South Korea want the issue to be dealt with in a delicate but firm manner.
In the strategic calculus of Asia,India could also benefit from South Korea by forging an understanding on the issue of civilian nuclear cooperation. South Korea,which is a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG),has been less adamant than Japan on the issue of providing nuclear technology to India. There are speculations that South Korea President Lee Myung-bak and India would probe the possibilities of a formal understanding and agreement between the two countries. Another area of future cooperation between the two countries could be cooperation on environmental and energy related issues. South Korea has been working on its project for green development and could provide valuable technologies,help and advice to India including assistance at arriving at a safe nuclear energy option. It is important to note that more than 40 per cent of the energy requirement of South Korea comes from nuclear energy and South Korean expertise and assistance to India could be very crucial.
Overall,it could be said that South Korea and India appear to have realised the mutual benefits of bilateral cooperation,and both need to move closer for mutual benefit and regional stability and prosperity.
The writer is assistant professor at the Department of East Asian Studies,University of Delhi
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