Round The World
New Delhi, 14 April 2023
India-America Ties
TWISTS & ROUNDABOUTS
By Dr. D.K. Giri
(Secretary General, Association for
Democratic Socialism)
A revelation was made on 11 April in New Delhi by
General Kenneth S. Wilsbach, Commander, US Pacific Air Forces (COMPACAF) that
they had discussed with New Delhi the shooting down of the Chinese spy balloon.
He added that, for the first time ever two B-1 long range Bombers of the US Air
Force would participate in the bilateral air force exercise, called ‘Cope
India’ which started on this Monday. He underlined that Bombers are unique
platforms having extremely long range and heavy payload. The idea was to initiate
inter-operability and the process of two air forces working together.
Wilsbach also made the usual rhetorical assertions
about free and open Indo-Pacific and the sovereignty of air spaces anywhere in
the world. The increasing defence cooperation manifested in the statements made
by Wilsbach may warm up the hearts of those believing that Americans would aid
and defend the biggest democracy of the world; as Washington expects New Delhi
to work as a countervailing force to Beijing. I am one among those who has been
advocating a closer partnership between two democracies, one the biggest and
the USA the ‘greatest’, going by the popular refrain. It is another matter that
both democracies are coming under the scanner of independent democracy
watchdogs. That is a discussion for another day.
The perception that America, the super power, will
defend a rule-based order and individual democracies is endorsed by Howard W.
French, a professor at the Columbia University and a long-time foreign
correspondent. He analyses, “Why does US care more about Taiwan’s democracy
than India’s”. While this is the title of his article, the sub-text is “The
west’s urge to counter China should not meant ignoring democratic erosion among
its own coalition members.”He then goes on to describe how Indian democracy is
crumbling under Narendra Modi’s regime.
In order to support his arguments, French quotes RSS
ideologues like Savarkar and the books written on them. Admittedly, the nature
and content of India’s democracy is debatable like many others in the world.
Harold French concedes that democracy in his country too nose-dived under
Donald Trump.But that is not the issue. Democracy is a complex and a varied
political system in understanding and practice, although it is currently the
universal aspiration.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been claiming that
India is the oldest home of democracy in the world. John Kean, a British
academic argues in his book, “The Life and Death of Democracy” (2009)
that the history of democracy needs to be democratised, meaning there are other
traditions that have contributed to growth of democracy other than the European
style, such as Syria –Mesopotamia, India and others.
However, the moot point in and Harold French’s
contention is that the US is less concerned about India than Taiwan because of
the democracy variable is incredible and unconvincing. The argument flies on
the face of facts. In this column last week, I shared a predominant perception
that the US foreign policy has really been self-serving in the name of
pragmatism.
There is a plethora of evidence to show how the US has
propped up patently anti-democratic regimes in its national interests. Taking
the cue from Roosevelt’s maxim that the US has to ‘sometimes’ support warlords
and dictators, it has been doing so ‘often times’. A partial list includes
Fulgencio Batista of Cuba, AnastasioSomoza of Nicaragua, Ferdinand Marcos of
Philippines, Mobute Sese Seko of Zaire, Augusto Pinochet of Chile, Mohammad
Reza Pahlavi Reza (the former Shah of Iran and Mohammed Zia-ul-Haq of Pakistan.
In fact, the latest trend in American foreign policy is
more surprising as it borders on self-contradiction. It would build up a kind
of a Frankenstein and then fight to pull it down --supporting the Mujahedeen in
Afghanistan who later became Talibans, the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussain
against Iran and building China as an economic power to counter USSR.
The biggest contradiction the US is facing now is the
threat from China not Russia. Targeting Russia is perhaps a misplaced strategy.
Some would argue as I have said in the column mentioned above that US is feeding
its national economic interests by letting the war on Ukraine continue.
Therefore, US needs to undergo a radical shift in identifying its rivals and
dealing with them. That is how India and US relations can be firmed up. That is
also in the interest of both democracies.
Scanning the latest India-US bilateral relations, the US
appointed a full Ambassador, Eric Garcetti, after a gap of two long years. Not
a good sign for an important bilateralism. There would be several meetings this
year between Joe Biden and Narendra Modi including in G-20 Summit, Quad, I2U2
and so on. Mr. Garcetti is known to be a close confidante of Biden and may push
a fresh strategy emerging out of a new realisation indicated earlier on.
In fact, there are two main issues between the two
countries. One, does the US want India to be a counterweight to China? If yes,
a whole lot of policies in various sectors would have to follow. Quite a bit is
happening in areas like critical and emerging technology, defence and
industrial cooperation, cyber and maritime security, India-Pacific cooperation,
under the Quad platform. But these are not enough. It has to be a complete
partnership.
India’s economy is five times less than that of China.
That has to be bridged. There have been talks about shifting the supply chains
from China. India is the natural alternative in terms of its skill-base,
demography, and size of the market. But is it happening? There has been
critical support from the US in the past on green revolution making India
food-sufficient, raising India as an IT super power. Indians’ success stories
in the US trickle back to their home country, climate change collaborations,
space technology and so on. Yet it is not enough to counter China from India’s
platform. The US must realise it.
The second issue is that the US has inspired less trust
in the past when it backed Pakistan to the hilt in the name of containing Taliban,
whereas Islamabad was harbouring terrorists operating across the world
including USA. Not to forget that Osama Bin Laden was given sanctuary in
Pakistan; likewise, the US suddenly pulling out of Afghanistan leaving
democratic forces in the lurch.
That said, the US has a genuine concern about India not
severing its ties with Russia and not taking a vocal stand against the war in
Ukraine. At the same time, Russia treats India and China as its allies. It may
broker peace between the two countries, whether Moscow can prevail on Beijing
is another matter. But New Delhi can still turn to Moscow vis-à-vis Beijing.
Can it do so with Washington? Although India is always prepared to defend her
sovereignty by herself, we are discussing friends and partners. Can the US give
that assurance to New Delhi as it has done to Israel and Taiwan?
That assurance calls for many operative policies and
concrete actions vis-à-vis China. Has the US begun to act on those? Answers to
these questions will determine the future of India-US relations,which are
interestingly and inevitably getting closer whether one likes or not. So let a
conscious, frank and transparent dialogue begin! –INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)
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