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Opinion | Does Modi’s visit mark the start of a US-India honeymoon? Not so fast
- It is clear that the US is wooing India as part of its efforts to contain China, but whether India can meet the West’s standards on its modernisation journey is open to question
- Modi perhaps sees the US as a pawn to further India’s ambitions even as New Delhi maintains a delicate balance in its border diplomacy
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi received an exceptionally warm welcome during his recent visit to the United States. The US Congress spared little effort in showing favour to Modi, despite concerns about human rights in India.
It seems the democratic principle of defending human rights can be traded in the pursuit of diplomatic interests. But how certain is the conclusion that Modi’s visit is the prelude to a honeymoon in US-India relations?
When he met the media at the White House, Modi was pressed on human rights. There has been growing pressure in the US for the Biden administration to openly criticise the Modi government’s human rights record. So it was surprising that Biden responded to a question about this by saying both countries have “an overwhelming respect for each other because we’re both democracies”.
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Yet this seemingly positive response exposes the fundamental prerequisite for India’s entry into the Western club: only when India becomes a Western-style “democracy” can it be fully accepted and respected.
Superficially, India has adopted the Western political system. But as an Eastern country with its own cultural characteristics, India also has its own ideas about modernisation. The Biden administration’s efforts to weaponise the ideology of democracy will only end up eroding the West’s credibility.
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Anyone with some sense of international politics can guess why the US would wish to ingratiate itself with India, a country with the potential to mature into an important power. On the American chessboard, there is no better choice than India to contain China in the Asia-Pacific.
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