US embassy cable - 05NEWDELHI2141

C O N F I D E N T I A L NEW DELHI 002141 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/17/2015 
TAGS: PREL, BM, CB, LA, VM, IN, ARF 
SUBJECT: STRONG INDIAN VIEWS ON EAST ASIA SUMMIT 
 
REF: A. KUALA LUMPUR 919 
     B. NEW DELHI 8015 
 
Classified By: PolCouns Geoff Pyatt.  Reasons 1.4 (B, D) 
 
1.  (C) In the strongest language we have heard so far from 
the GOI on the East Asia Summit (EAS), MEA Joint Secretary 
(Southeast Asia) Mitra Vashishta asserted that if India is 
left out, New Delhi will resort to "other means."  Meeting 
with PolCouns and Poloff on March 17, she insisted on a 
status for India equal to that of the Plus Three partners 
(Japan, Korea, China), calling for an ASEAN plus Four 
arrangement, with an agenda distinct from that of ASEAN plus 
One or Three.  Vashishta argued that the "world recognizes 
India," therefore the country must be included, and 
elaborated "other means" for further cultivation of India's 
CMLV (Cambodia, Burma, Laos, Vietnam) "clients" to support 
the GOI bid. 
 
2.  (C) Possibly referring to one of the three options from 
the March ASEAN senior officials' meeting (Ref A), ASEAN plus 
Three plus India, Australia, and New Zealand, Vashishta 
asserted that India cannot be "clubbed" with Australia. 
Vashishta also rebuffed the only ASEAN plus Three possibility 
for the EAS, stating that "they already have an ASEAN plus 
Three." 
 
3.  (U) Speaking at a March 17 CSIS-sponsored conference on 
Southeast and East Asia, former Indian Ambassador to Laos SD 
Muni remarked that New Delhi considers CMLV the "new ASEAN, 
strategically and economically distinct from the rest." 
Echoing Vashishta's comments after the November 2004 ASEAN 
plus One summit (Ref B) about India's "special relationship" 
with those four countries, Muni described this as an area 
with greater space for Indian involvement in the areas of 
security, energy, and economic and technological assistance. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
4.  (C) The East Asia Summit presents something of a test 
case for India's aspirations in Asia.  The GOI view on the 
EAS has evolved from dismissal to alarm at the possibility of 
being excluded from a new Asia club.  Realizing that the EAS 
is likely to happen, and that it is not necessarily a given 
that it will include India, the GOI may turn up its lobbying 
efforts, a tactic the Singapore High Commission had 
previously criticized New Delhi for not pursuing (Ref B). 
MULFORD