ABSTRACT
Rajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi’s son and successor as Prime Minister of India, unveiled the fourth phase of India’s relations with Southeast Asia. This phase was anointed with successful and deft diplomacy as Rajiv Gandhi embarked on recuperating the ties that had suffered considerably under his predecessor. The period bore testimony to a marked improvement in India’s relations with Southeast Asia, principally prefaced on New Delhi’s sincerity in resolving the Kampuchean crisis. Based on this vision of constructive confidence-building, India’s initiative to minimise the gap between the conflicting parties with reference to the Kampuchean imbroglio bore fruit when Vietnam finally withdrew its troops from Kampuchean soil in September 1989. Rajiv Gandhi’s ‘shuttle diplomacy’ was acknowledged as a consistent factor in contributing to conflict resolution, in addition to reviving ASEAN’s confidence in New Delhi’s sincerity and astute diplomacy. Given this backdrop, the chapter analyses the determinants responsible for Rajiv Gandhi’s policy of confidence-building and seeking greater co-operation with ASEAN, weighed in the context of the then global and regional ambience, with shifting trends towards the rudiments of globalisation and interdependence.
