Can India and Britain take ties to a new level while keeping China at bay in Indo-Pacific?

Name: China reveals details of 2020 border clash with Indian troops after both sides complete pullback
Uploaded: 2021-03-21T10:00:06.000Z
Duration: 2 min 7 s
Description: China reveals details of 2020 border clash with Indian troops after both sides complete pullback

Despite recent tensions between the two countries, a post-Brexit Britain sees India as a key partner in its reimagined Indo-Pacific strategy

But analysts say India and Britain need to work together in the region to advance their geopolitical goals, with the containment of China among the top priorities

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, centre, during his 2015 visit to Britain, where he met Boris Johnson, right, who was then the mayor of London. Johnson will now visit India as the British prime minister next month. Photo: AP

Amrit Dhillon

Published: 6:00pm, 21 Mar 2021Updated: 10:54pm, 21 Mar 2021

As far as fresh starts go, this one could have been better: Just as Britain was seeking to move ties with India to a higher plane, it riled India with a debate in the British Parliament earlier this month where MPs lashed out at New Delhi’s handling of the ongoing farmers’ protests in the country.

Soon thereafter, New Delhi summoned the British High Commissioner for a reprimand over “unwarranted” interference in its internal matters.

But neither side is likely to let the fracas interfere with the larger goal in the relationship – to boost trade and pursue closer cooperation now that a post-Brexit Britain is eyeing a new Indo-Pacific strategy in which it sees India as a key partner. To that end, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is heading to India next month for talks.

Foreign policy experts in New Delhi say three factors are driving the new policy. First is Britain’s need for new trading partners now that it is no longer in Europe, with the vision of a “Global Britain” looking beyond Europe for more opportunities in commerce and investment.

The second is Britain’s reappraisal of its ties with China following the crackdown in Hong Kong, Beijing’s treatment of Uygurs and its muscular policy in the Indo-Pacific arena. Britain has already phased out Chinese company Huawei Technologies Co. from its 5G network as it seeks to limit China’s role in its critical infrastructure, and it also wants to reduce its economic dependence on China by diversifying its trading partners.

Third, Britain’s closest ally, the US, which also seeks to contain China, has announced that the Indo-Pacific region is a priority, as seen in the March 12 virtual summit of the Quad – the quadrilateral security framework involving Australia, India, Japan and the United States. The summit demonstrated, among other things, US President Joe Biden’s seriousness in wanting to keep the Indo-Pacific secure from Chinese expansion, and analysts say that Britain aims to fall in lockstep with Washington on the issue.

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China reveals details of 2020 border clash with Indian troops after both sides complete pullback

Notwithstanding the contretemps over the farmers’ protests, Harsh K. Pant, the head of strategic studies at the Observer Research Foundation, believes that India and Britain are poised for closer ties. He said Britain’s post-Brexit meritocratic immigration policy, along with its move to co-sponsor a motion at the UN censuring India’s rival Pakistan for failing to stop the financing of terrorism, have helped put the relationship on more stable ground.

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