U.S. President Joe Biden (R) here seen reviewing an honor guard with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, released an economic framework during his visit to Japan last week. The IPEF came as a lifeline for India, which had stayed out of a China-centric pact consisting of Southeast Asian nations in 2020.
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Two years after walking out of a China-centric free trade pact in Southeast Asia, India is embracing the chance to become a founding member of another grouping — this one led by the U.S.
The launch of the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework in Tokyo during President Joe Biden’s first official trip to Asia last week gives India a chance to make its own pivot to the Pacific.
New Delhi’s move to solidify its alliance with Washington comes amid news that the U.S. overtook China to become India’s largest trade partner in the fiscal year ending March 2022.
Except for India and the U.S., all other nations participating in the IPEF launch are part of a rival bloc, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. RCEP includes China, which is the largest trade partner of most pact members.
India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar later affirmed India’s commitment to IPEF. At a conference in India with Southeast Asian nations last week, he said India was building infrastructure to forge closer links to Southeast Asia through Myanmar and Bangladesh which would dovetail with the new framework.
“[Connectivity] will…
