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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 
 
NEW DELHI 00001174  001.4 OF 004 
 
 
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. 
 
NEW DELHI 00001174  002.4 OF 004 
 
 
 
¶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." 
 
NEW DELHI 00001174  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
 
¶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 
 
NEW DELHI 00001174  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
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