Challenges and opportunities: The relations between Lao People’ s Democratic Republic (PDR) and India from the decade of decolonisation to the COVID 19 pandemic

Abstract

This article discusses the international relations between Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) and India from the time of decolonisation to the present era in which the COVID 19 pandemic unavoidably affects the international politics. Focusing on the Lao state, this article looks at the ways in which the foreign policy towards India was formulated. The methods employed in this research are document analysis as it aims to pioneer the exploration of the challenges and opportunities that arose in the time of independence from the late 1940s towards the early 1950s. The term challenge refers to the situation that impedes and hinders the bilateral relations of the Lao and Indian state. Meanwhile, opportunity is the situation that is likely to open the room for bilateral cooperation. The first phase of the analysis is when India gained independence in 1947 and the Lao people established their own national state for the first time in 1954 as the Kingdom of Laos. During the peak time of the Cold War, both India and the Kingdom of Laos tried to be neutral but the two states faced different situations. While India sided herself with the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM), the territory of the Laos became the brutal battleground of the Cold War conflicts. The establishment of the communist state of Lao PDR in 1975 marks the second phase of the analysis in this article. It looks at how the foreign policy of Lao PDR towards India developed and it could be described that Lao PDR was more interested in establishing the instate-state relations with other socialist states, especially those in the Soviet camp. In 1989 when the Cold War conflict was over, Lao PDR was more opened to other non-communist and communist states which include India and this is the third section of this article. The fourth phase of the analysis is the year 2009 as Lao PDR hosted the international sports event of SEA Games for the first time in her modern history. This period is the important turning point because China became more influential in the economic development of Lao PDR. Therefore, to look at how the policy towards India is formulated is worth analysing. The understanding of the challenges and opportunities in Indian-Lao [1]relations from 2009 to 2021 which is the time of COVID 19 pandemic is crucial. A number of vaccines from COVAX facility, produced in India, are reported to be given to Lao PDR and that could possibly be a sign of friendly relationship of the two states according to World Health Organization (WHO). Accordingly, such understanding helps foresee to the relations of two states in the future. In the past, there were obstacles due to changes in global geopolitics such as the ideological stance of Lao PDR during the Cold War that hindered her relations with other non-communist states.  Recently, Lao PDR has had closer economic relations with China. However, this article argues there is always a room for positive relations between Lao PDR and India, as the former was very much culturally influenced by the latter, especially in terms of religion and civilisation. During the Cold War, the two never really had ideological clash as India was a member of NAM. Recently, Lao PDR has also supported India’s position in international organization. In the future, Lao PDR will still be friendly to India both through bilateral and multilateral mechanism.