As the initial target area of India's "Look East" policy, Southeast Asia was a strategic interface to develop the economic relations with East Asia. After the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the upward trend of the Southeast Asia's economic status in the Asia Pacific region was suppressed, India expend objectives of its "Look East" policy to East Asia and the Asia Pacific region, with Southeast Asia's role in that policy will shift gradually to a strategic platform for developing the multilateral economic relations in the Asia-Pacific region. <<