Indian minister's dismissal of Asean countries as 'China's B team' could hurt FTA review

Asean seeking an explanation after officials also accuse it of 'stonewalling' the negotiations

- Nirmala Ganapathy

NEW DELHI - A review of a free trade agreement (FTA) between Asean and India has hit a rough patch after Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal criticised the accord as "silly" and called some South-east Asian countries "China's B team".

The FTA was signed in 2009.

A review was initiated in 2023, with India keen to address the growing trade imbalance in favour of South-east Asian countries. Asean, on the other hand, wants India to implement quicker processes and to further strengthen health and safety standards.

But there is now uncertainty over the future of negotiations. Last week, Indian government officials accused Asean of "stonewalling" the negotiations, prompting the Asean side to issue a communiqu on June 24 seeking an explanation.

"We want to know what is India's intention moving forward," said an Asean source of the communiqu e, adding that negative commentary undermined the confidence of stakeholders.

Malaysia is the current Asean chair. Neither the Malaysian Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry, nor the Foreign Ministry, responded to a request for comment.

The climate between the two sides initially soured after Mr Goyal on June 19 called the FTA "silly" and maintained that the Indian government is now more keen on doing agreements with groupings like the European Union or countries like Peru and New Zealand.

"There was a point of time 15 years ago when we were more focused on doing trade agreements with countries who were our competitors," he said. "So if I do an Asean agreement with Indonesia and Malaysia and Vietnam and Thailand and Cambodia and Laos... it really is silly because I am opening up my market to my competitors, many of whom have now become the B team of China."