India, Oct. 31 -- When the 22nd ASEAN-India Summit convened in Kuala Lumpur in 2025, the diplomatic choreography was carefully scripted: India's Prime Minister addressed the summit virtually, while the External Affairs Minister was physically present. More than mere logistics, this arrangement sent an unmistakable signal. It said: India is deeply engaged with Southeast Asia, but it is not frantically rushing into every summit as though it must assert a place in a unipolar hierarchy. Rather, India seeks to fashion a role in a multipolar order-one in which it stands as a pole in its own right, especially on behalf of the Global South.

At the heart of that message lies an assertion: India sees its partnership with ASEAN not as an adjunct of...