Wary of China, India draws closer to the US – just not too close, as the loss of its special trade status shows
- The punitive trade move comes even as the US publicly embraces India as a key partner in its Indo-Pacific strategy against China. The contradictory moves are part of a long and uneasy alliance between the two countries
The report states the primary concern for US national security as: “Inter-state strategic competition, defined by geopolitical rivalry between free and repressive world order visions”. China is identified as the revisionist power determined “to reorder the region to its advantage by leveraging military modernisation, influence operations, and predatory economics to coerce other nations”.
However, it would be misleading to infer from this summary that there is indeed a “convergence” of strategic interests between the US and India. A “correspondence” of security concerns in some areas, yes, but the US-India dissonance in other domains is very visible and appears intractable on Trump’s watch.
India’s Modi navigates path between China and US on security
India’s strategic dilemma of how to prudently manage its contradictory relationship with the US, such that it does not have to make a binary choice between Washington and Beijing, is one that was echoed by most countries at the Singapore dialogue. What is distinctive about the Indian case is that it has the potential to be a valuable strategic “swing state” for both the US and China.
Modi-Xi summit seen as sign of bonhomie but also strategic ambitions
Managing the growing challenges to US primacy against the backdrop of a rising China is central to the grand American strategy post-cold war. It was the considered assessment in the Washington beltway in mid-2005 that a stable and cordial partnership with India was necessary for the larger US global strategic objective. This policy focus has been consistent throughout the Bush-Obama-Trump continuum, although the transactional element has become the dominant priority for the US.
In its conclusion, the US Indo-Pacific strategy report reiterated: “As great power competition returns, we will continue to invest, act, and orient ourselves to ensure that the principled international order from which all countries in the region benefit endures.”
Towards this end, while dwelling on the relevance of a multinational lattice of partnerships, US Acting Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan said in Singapore that America was increasing the “scope, complexity and frequency” of its military engagement with India.
Clearly, the US-China-India strategic triangle has been buffeted by the contradictory compulsions that currently roil their relationships and the waters of the Indo-Pacific. Delhi has to navigate in a deft manner.
Commodore C. Uday Bhaskar is director of the Society for Policy Studies (SPS), an independent think tank based in New Delhi