Page 6 - The Indian EYE 040122

BIG STORY APRIL 01, 2022 | The Indian Eye 6

Forum titled “The Indo-Pacific & the US vision of the global order.
India factor in US-China rivalry: A dis- We have seen for well over a de-
cussion”. It shone a light on security in cade how the US has perceived India
the Indo-Pacific region and the roles as central to how it manages the geo-
played there by three major world political challenges posed by China,
powers: America, India and China. In said Dr Daniel Markey, Senior Advi-
his opening comments, The Democra- sor on South Asia at the United States
cy Forum President Lord Bruce spoke Institute of Peace, who considered the
of India’s long policy of non-alignment. risks to the United States associated
But, he also highlighted Jawarharlal with increased India-China hostility.
Nehru’s 1949 warning, in response to While India is a political and security
the emergence of the Cold War, that partner for the US, part of a broader
“the very process of marshalling the Asian counterweight to China, Mar-
world into hostile camps precipitates key also underscored India’s histor-
the conflict it had sought to avoid.” ic reticence to commit to a strategic
It is arguable that the invasion of partnership with the US, given Delhi’s
Ukraine has pushed India into just this doubts about US strategic intentions,
predicament, said Lord Bruce. Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and uS under Secretary of State for Political Affairs with regard to Pakistan, and concern
Forced to confront the conse- Victoria Nuland, at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Monday. (ANI Photo) that the US was getting too close to
quences of its multipolar alignment China during the Obama era.
with both Russia and the US, India So, India has pursued its own ap-
chose to abstain on three occasions at proach, developing relationships with
the UN Assembly in the last month, other major powers, including Russia
rather than joining the condemnation and Iran. A breakdown in India-China
of Russia’s actions - though abstention relations would not serve US interests,
is not supported. said Markey.
Despite its careful strategic bal- Greater India-China hostilities
ancing of collective security interests will make India more reliant on Rus-
in the Indo-Pacific, clearly represented sian arms, as well as making India
by its membership of the Quad, India more distracted to its land border, and
has been reluctant to discontinue its therefore a less capable strategic part-
reliance on Russia’s traditional role as ner for the US.
its principal arms supplier, which could Looking at the subject from an
lead to the imposition of sanctions by Indian perspective was journalist and
the US. And a more insidious threat author Dr Manoj Joshi. Although the
to India’s security may emerge, added Chinese are seeking to exploit the
Lord Bruce, if the US recalibrates its perceived gap between India and
global military responsibilities and its the US, arising out of India’s stance
commitment to the security of Europe, on the Russian invasion of Ukraine,
to the detriment of its strategic allianc- they have an uphill task, said Joshi, as
es in the Indo-Pacific region. Permanent representative and Ambassador of India to the united Nations TS Tirumurti speaks Delhi is far from normalising its ties
While former Indian foreign sec- with Beijing and, in fact, India is not
retary Shyam Saran said: “A night- at the uN Security Council meeting (ANI Photo) happy with the Russian action, but
mare scenario where the United is merely acting to prevent a deeper
States comes to the conclusion that it sociate Professor in the International the Indo-Pacific is of a country that Russia-China embrace.
confronts a greater threat from Russia Relations of South Asia, at St Ant- engages selectively with a US-centred Also, India is dependent on Rus-
and that this justifies a strategic accom- ony’s College, Oxford, explored how vision of order, and hopes to shape sian defence platforms up to 85 per
modation with China - in blunt terms, US engagement with India stands to that order in ways that serve its own cent and has, furthermore, enjoyed
to concede Chinese dominance in further polarise US-China rivalry, and interests and preferred social roles,” close geo-political ties with Russia
Asia while safeguarding its European also how India is both leveraging and she said. since the 1950s.
flank.” working against this dynamic. Growing strategic convergence Close China-Russia ties are not
Outlining the geopolitics of the She drew out the divergent un- with the US has been valuable for In- good for India, so Delhi has gone out
Indo-Pacific, particularly in relation to derstandings of the term Indo-Pacific, dia but it comes at a price, said Sulli- of its way to keep on the right side of
US-India-China relations, Dr Walter and the order that is envisaged in that van de Estrada, peppered as it is with Moscow. India has also rejected West-
Ladwig III of King’s College, London geopolitical domain, positing two im- expectations for India to play balanc- ern criticisms of its position, as many
called the region “a grand strategic do- ages of India in the region: first, as a ing and capacity building roles. European nations have oil sufficiency,
main” and a fusion of the world cen- US partner and a defender of a partic- Also, despite India’s very real or are even importing it from Russia.
tre of economic dynamism, vital as a ular kind of order in the Indo-Pacific. security concerns vis-a-vis China, Regarding the US and India in
source of raw materials and a transport This image frames India’s role in the it doesn’t want to take on the US’ the Indo-Pacific, Joshi cited the lat-
corridor. region as part of a wider geopolitical ‘enemy’ image of China or pursue est Indo-Pacific document, in which
India, the US and China are op- response to a rising China. an overt strategy over Chinese con- Washington has pledged to support
erating in a complicated geopolitical India is valuable in the Indo-Pa- tainment. And while India’s refusal India’s role as a net security provider,
environment where the interests of cific as it can materially balance Chi- to take sides over Russia’s invasion as it needs India’s potential to balance
the various parties only partially over- na, and also institutionally balance of Ukraine has disappointed the US China in the region.
lap and different pressures can simul- China through the Quad - a hugely and its allies, it could promise a thaw As the geopolitical game be-
taneously push pairs of states togeth- valuable role to both the US and its in relations with China, sending a comes hot in Europe, India has a dif-
er, and pull them apart. allies, and to India, according to her. powerful message to Beijing that In- ficult balancing act to do. So far, India
Dr Kate Sullivan de Estrada, As- “The second image of India in dia does not unequivocally support a has managed to do it.

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