Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong was magnanimous at the first ever India-ASEAN summit when he described India as a wing that was needed for the ASEAN jumbo jet to fly in all weather conditions. The other wing, according to him, was formed by China, Japan and South Korea. But the fact is that China has already become the engine for the ASEAN jet by forging a pact with 10 ASEAN countries to usher in the world's largest free-trade zone by 2008. It will have 1.7 billion consumers and a combined economy of $2 trillion (about 22 times India's foreign trade).

Vajpayee with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Indonesian President Megawati

Beijing struck the deal a day before Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee proposed a similar free-trade zone. It is obvious that India has been sluggish in taking initiatives with the ASEAN and has lost out to China. The trade figures tell the story. India-ASEAN trade is pegged at a measly $10 billion after a decade of Delhi's proactive Look East policy, while China-ASEAN trade has climbed to $38 billion during the same period. Beijing developed links with ASEAN through its 2000 Kunming initiative. India followed suit by forging the Ganga-Mekong Cooperation (GMC) with Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos later that year. While the China initiative led to manifold increase in trade, the Indian move has been a non-starter with only one meeting of the GMC countries held to date. Delhi really needs to move fast on the ASEAN track.