Source: The Pioneer
June 8, 2012
It must build ties with both US and China
US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta’s two-day visit to New Delhi must be viewed against the backdrop of the recent ‘pivot to Asia’ in America’s strategic foreign policy. Earlier this year, US President Barack Obama released a security document that delineated Washington, DC’s strategy to confront a newly emerging world order that is no longer governed by a clutch of Great Powers. Instead, the world order today hinges on the phenomenal, and mostly worrisome, rise of China’s economic power that is buttressed by its growing military strength, vis-à-vis America’s loss of status as the world’s only hegemon. In effect, the new strategy, which includes transferring some 60 per cent of the US’s fleet to the Pacific by 2020, focuses on America’s attention towards the Asia-Pacific in a bid to keep an eye on China. It marks the most significant shift in American foreign policy since the end of the Cold War. Mr Panetta was in the region — he visited Singapore and Vietnam before coming to New Delhi — to essentially tighten the nuts and bolts of the new defence framework. For all practical purposes, Mr Panetta’s eight-day swing through Asia was meant to reassert waning American influence in the region. It is towards this end that Mr Panetta sought to engage India’s support. At this time, India is the only country in this region that has both the economic and the military clout to be a credible global power and stand up to China, and the US knows that. Hence, it is no surprise that increased security ties with India lie at the crux of the Obama Administration’s China policy. Mr Panetta’s emphasis on more joint military exercises between India and the US as well as his promise to make available to New Delhi the latest in military technology, must then be viewed against this backdrop.
So, a deepening of security cooperation between India and the US is a step in the right direction. After all, it is only natural that the world’s largest democracy and the world’s most powerful democracy with their common commitment to the universal values of freedom, justice, equality and liberty, should share a close bilateral relation. Furthermore, given that some analysts believe that US-India ties have somewhat plateaued in recent years — there has been nothing spectacular to report since the groundbreaking 2005 nuclear deal between the two countries — this push to take relations to the next level perhaps comes at a good time.
Having said that, however, the restraint that New Delhi has shown in dealing with the American offer reflects a sense of mature policy-making. While India should no doubt cooperate closely with the US, it must be cautious not to become an American satellite state representing Washington’s interests in Asia. This will work neither for India nor for America. Particularly in the case of China, India must be careful not to needlessly antagonise the Asian dragon. New Delhi already has a sensitive relationship with Beijing that is characterised by long-standing border disputes on the one hand and close trade relations on the other. It must be cautious enough not to jeopardise the normalisation of ties. America too must realise that an ‘autonomous’ India will be most effective as its ‘security anchor’ in Asia. India has to eventually do a fine balancing act as it navigates the rivalry between China and the US.
