advertisement
We should neither overstate, nor underplay the importance of US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin’s visit to New Delhi. At one level, this is part of his Asia tour, which has taken him to important allies like South Korea and Japan. On the other hand, that New Delhi has been included in the itinerary indicates a level of interest of the current Biden administration on good ties with India.
Austin’s visit must also be placed in the context of the Biden Administration’s efforts to give shape to a new China policy. Indeed, Austin came to New Delhi via Seoul and Tokyo, where he along with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken participated in a 2+2 dialogue with their counterparts.
Speaking at a press briefing after his officials talks, General Austin said that, “India is an increasingly important partner among today’s rapidly shifting international dynamics.” He met Prime Minister Modi and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval on Friday, 19 March, and held official talks with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday, 20 March. He also met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
According to a Pentagon press note, the two sides discussed their partnership through the prism of regional security cooperation, military to military interactions and defense trade.
But both sides played down the issue with the Americans excising it from their readouts and the Indians claiming, somewhat incredulously that the human rights discussed were in relation to Afghanistan, not India.
It is no accident that the first top official of the Biden Administration to visit India is a Secretary of Defense. This is the area where most of the things are happening in the Indo-US relationship.
Over the years the US has emerged as a major seller of arms to India, a provider of technology transfers and a country that has laid the groundwork for greater cooperation through a mesh of agreements. India has signed all four of the so-called US foundational agreements, the last being the Basic Exchange Cooperation Agreement (BECA). This last has been useful in accessing US-origin geospatial information India has needed in its confrontation with China in the Himalayas.
In addition, it has been given the STA -1 status and the designation of a “major defense partner”.
On the eve of the visit, an unnamed senior Pentagon official noted that the visit was aimed at “operationalising” the defence partnership that the US has with India. Equally significantly, he mentioned that the aim was to “network and build partnerships with India and with other partners, whether it’s in the Indian Ocean or the Pacific Ocean.”
The reference to the Indian Ocean is significant because Indo-US defence cooperation has been run by the US Indo-Pacific Command, whose remit runs only to the eastern Indian Ocean. But, as is well known, India’s primary maritime security concerns lie in the western Indian Ocean, which includes the northern Arabian Sea through which the bulk of our oil comes from.
In line with this, the discussions that Gen Austin had with his Indian counterparts will in all likelihood have included issues relating to Afghanistan, as well as the traditional ones relating to China and the Indo-Pacific.
The US is, of course, signaling complex intentions. On one hand it is marking out India for attention for its ambitious Indo-Pacific Strategy. On the other, it is also warning the Modi government that it will not get a free pass.
The government of India seems inclined to ignore these complaints in the belief that the US needs India to operationalise its Indo-Pacific strategy. But they need to pay heed the fact that this administration is shaping up its contest with China as an ideological battle between democratic and authoritarian countries. As long as India was somewhat peripheral to American concerns, it could afford to tweak Washington’s nose and get away with it. But as its importance to American goals increases, it will have to bear the burden of increasing scrutiny, which often comes with a democratic administration.
However, there are also huge positives available to New Delhi if it is willing to play ball. Along with a bipartisan group of Senators, Menendez has sponsored legislation like the Democracy Technology Partnership Act. Under this, the US will establish an inter-agency office at the Department of State to lead in the creation of a new technology partnership among democratic countries in opposition to China. The new office will seek to create an International Technology Partnership for setting policies and standards, conducting joint research and coordinating export controls and investment screening in areas like 5G, AI, quantum computing and other emerging technologies.
(The writer is Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. This is an opinion piece. The views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)
Published: undefined