As India seeks to expand its security cooperation with Southeast Asia by sharing its battle-tested counterterrorism expertise, defence analysts say its experience would only partly meet Asean’s needs given the differences in threat perception and domestic priorities.

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh made the offer at the Asean Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) in Cebu on Thursday. Citing Operation Sindoor as an example of India’s counterterrorism capabilities, he offered to share New Delhi’s experience with the bloc through joint exercises, training and intelligence-sharing.

“India’s counterterrorism experience was not theoretical knowledge but had been acquired through decades of confronting complex security challenges, including cross-border terrorism,” Singh said.

On May 7 last year, India launched Operation Sindoor, a military campaign that targeted nine alleged militant camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The operation was in response to an attack that killed 26 civilians in the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir town of Pahalgam. Islamabad denied any involvement in the attack and later retaliated against Delhi.

Rather than just cooperating within existing ADMM-Plus mechanisms, India was marketing its frontline counterterrorism experience, said Premesha Saha, a senior fellow with Asia Society Australia.

Saha said India’s experience could only partly fulfil the needs of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in areas such as online radicalisation, terror financing and coastal security.

“After 2008, India overhauled its coastal surveillance and maritime information-sharing architecture. That experience is relevant to areas like the Sulu-Celebes Seas, where militant kidnappings at sea pushed Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines to set up joint patrols,” Saha said.

India framed terrorism as cross-border and state-sponsored, while most Asean states saw it as largely domestic and network-based, she added.

“The region [Asean] also already has deep counterterrorism partnerships with Australia, the US and Japan, so uptake will be selective and bilateral. The Philippines, with Mindanao and the memory of Marawi, may find specific training and capacity-building useful,” he added, referring to past terrorist attacks in the Mindanao region and the deadly 2017 siege in the city of Marawi.

Sanjay Verma, a distinguished fellow at the Council for Strategic and Defence Research, said that while India’s proposed cooperation encompassed joint exercises, capacity building and intelligence sharing, there was a limit to how far the partnership could go.

“India has a multitude of cross-border issues to contend with, while Asean members have their own peculiarities and challenges, so this will be more on a country-to-country basis with the willingness of the members to align and cooperate,” said Verma, who is a retired lieutenant general.

Nonetheless, India is an experienced security partner without regional hegemony ambition and can offer to share its defence technologies and other areas with Asean, according to Verma. “India will have to create a customised value dialogue with each state,” Verma said.

India and Malaysia are already co-chairing a counterterrorism working group whose mandate runs from 2024 to 2027 under the ADMM-Plus framework. Both countries conducted counterterrorism table-top exercises in Malaysia in April and are scheduled to hold a field-training exercise in India next year.

Joanne Lin, a senior fellow and coordinator at the Asean Studies Centre, said India’s counterterrorism cooperation, intelligence sharing and capacity-building were covered under the Asean–India Plan of Action for 2026 to 2030.

“India certainly has good experience in dealing with cross-border militancy, insurgency and terrorism, and Southeast Asian countries can benefit from sharing experiences, particularly in intelligence gathering, border management, counter-insurgency operations and disrupting terrorist networks,” Lin said.

Lin said there were some similarities with the security challenges from extremist groups faced by countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, but their security contexts were not necessarily the same.

Many Asean members had developed their own experience and capabilities in tackling these threats through law enforcement, rehabilitation and community engagement, she added.

“Asean countries would see practical value in India’s offer. However, the extent of cooperation would depend on their respective security needs and priorities, and India’s approaches may need to be adapted to the different circumstances of Southeast Asian countries.”India’s counterterrorism proposal comes as it expands defence ties with the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia through weapon sales. BrahMos Aerospace, an Indian-Russian joint venture, has secured agreements with the three Asean members to supply them with its long-range cruise missiles in recent years.

Saha said the BrahMos deals underscored India’s commitment to meet these countries’ defence supply needs and it could do more. By extending the partnerships to maritime security, India could step up information-sharing and cooperation in areas including coastal surveillance, training, ship repair and humanitarian and disaster relief.

Lin said that India’s experience in maritime security, cybersecurity, counterterrorism, and humanitarian relief would be particularly useful for Asean, and such partnerships could enhance Delhi’s relevance as a key security partner for the bloc.

“Greater participation in Asean-led mechanisms, alongside its bilateral defence partnerships, would be a useful way to strengthen India’s role in regional security,” she added.