Upgraded only last year, US-India relations entered a new upbeat phase this August with the signing of the landmark bilateral Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement that enables reciprocal military access of facilities for both countries.
It was the second of the initial four foundational agreements the US usually has with its defense partners; the first one was the General Security of Military Information Agreement, which India signed in 2002. Having felt uneasy about committing itself to the remaining three agreements, the previous Indian government held off, as going ahead would have been perceived as lodging it in the US “camp.”
As of now, even the current government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not set any timeline for signing the remaining two deals, known as the Communications and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement and the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geospatial Intelligence.
The unease in New Delhi was triggered as Beijing and Islamabad kicked off the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Since then, however, India might have felt a bit unequal to the expectations of its important ally in Washington on various counts such as its relations with Pakistan.
US-Pakistan relations may be going through choppy times, yet the reality is that the US has to remain engaged with Pakistan because of its geopolitical location and the fact that it creates strategic balance in the region.
As reported by the British think-tank Royal United Studies Institute recently, Washington needs Islamabad more than Islamabad needs Washington. Not only that, growing strategic ties between China and Pakistan have emboldened Islamabad, and this relationship “has eclipsed anything America has had to offer in terms of military and economic assistance”.
Predictably, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has stated that Pakistan is critical for the long-term stability of South Asia, while US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials have urged Pakistan not to see the new US strategy for South Asia as a move to isolate it.
Another unsettling factor for India is that while the US could be said to be using it to contain China, Washington maintains a cordial relationship with Beijing itself. India has obstinately stayed out of the BRI up to now, but China remains the United States’ most important economic partner.
US President Donald Trump is due to visit China in November, and India is bound to feel even more left out as it has no place in this equation. Ostensibly, this has been a stable year for US-China relations. President Xi Jinping and Trump have a good understanding and regularly discuss matters on the phone, there is no trade war, and a fast-track four-level dialogue has been under way since the two leaders’ last meeting in Florida.
Recently, US Defense Secretary James Mattis was in New Delhi to press for the US$2 billion sale of Sea Guardian Unmanned Aerial System drones as well as US$15 billion worth of updated F-16 fighter jets. It has been mentioned by Indian media that he would also ask India to moderate its support for the Tehrik-i-Taliban at the request of Pakistan.
In New Delhi, he endorsed India’s stand that the CPEC project passes through disputed territory in Pakistan, but at the end of the day, it is India that is left isolated in its own neighborhood while it cannot go ahead even with energy deals with Iran.
Meanwhile, Trump would like India to have a more balanced economic and trade relationship with the US. He recently admonished India that it could spend more money in Afghanistan and work on reducing a US$24 billion trade deficit with the US.
He said: “We appreciate India’s important contributions to stability in Afghanistan. But India makes billions of dollars in trade from the United States and we want them to help us more with Afghanistan, especially in the area of economic assistance and development.”
Absolutely bewildered, India ignored this and pretended nothing had happened. Discussing the slight, Shashi Tharoor, a parliamentarian and former foreign minister, asked: “Whatever Afghanistan is or should be about for India and the US, surely money is the least relevant consideration?”
Having geographical limitations vis-a-vis Afghanistan, India cannot supply logistics; at best it can contribute financially. Not only that, it promises to be a long-term player as the US plans to fight it out indefinitely in Afghanistan, notwithstanding the hefty US$12.5 billion annual price tag.
Consequently, doubts prevail in India as to the utility of the India-US strategic partnership. To date, India has not been able to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Constantly, the US tries to persuade India to downsize its nuclear arsenal while it holds back on transfer of advance technologies under defense cooperation. Signing agreements on each and every instance of defense collaboration is not possible for India as it worries about its image.
Meanwhile, conflicts regarding the modalities of technology transfer create impediments. For instance, the US would like to continue its influence through training, maintenance and control of core defense technologies, while India prefers a complete transfer of military technology.
india is a soverign country and is upfront about disputes like us withdrawal from paris accord. its foreign policy is driven by interests not foreign gov directions who give loads and loads of debt.
the author has presented a mutiliated picture of us india relationship-
5 million indias live in us with annual remmitance About 25 billion per year includes ceos of google master card pepsi etc
us has declared india a responsible nuclear state with advanced tech in 2007 thats why waiver
h1b visa dispute made noise but the pressure from silicon valley has forced us to go back on words
us unhappy about ip laws sepecially compulsory licensing thats why india appears in priority watch list
india large defence and oil market. india oil corporation just bought largest shale reserves in us and going to buy more
then there are strategic issues……even lemoa was a reformed version of lsa signed with nato. india is not providing any hidden bases to us.
pakistanis think military security terrorist is what all relations are about..thats why russia needs them china needs them iran needs them this and that. make ur self economically strong. talk about poverty schemes employment schemes maybe world wil, accept u.
there is a LED distribution program to bring down electricity cost and make it green called ujala which india runs and has given 4 cr of them. india has extended this scheme to uk, saudi arabia, malaysia …this is called developing strategic relation…..sss
Your writing is shockingly bad. Try to improve it.
Sankar Mitra haha typing in the pad!!
India used to be a soverign state but not any more. It has lost its virginity and is in a state of denail. The 62,000+ western NGO’s that have mushroomed over the last decade in India are not going home any time soon. Policies dictated by the west will have to be followed or else.
Saeed Khan It would be good for you to know in 2007 when the first Voluntary Organisation Policy was accounced there were 33 lakh NGOs in India from varied classes/ subclasses.
Though many of them are western funded however India is not under some external financial pressure to follow what they have to say. Following points would highlight you on that –
1) Compulsory foreign income return filing has been introduced that too in digital format. License of 3 lakh NGOs were cancelled this year
2) Foreign Contribution Regulation Act was amended –
a) License period from lifetime reduced to 5 years
b) Every political NGO needs a special permission from Home Ministry
3) NGOs like Greenpence and Amnesty have been hammered because of misuse of funding and creating issues in developmental activities
4) Digital registration and all processes transparent on the NITI Aayog’s NGO Darpan format
5) Most of the funding are being locally arranged through bodies like CAPART and RIDF which give money to NGOs
India has a strict laws with respect to foreign funds and and how they flow in and out of the country including their end usage. Though India has been plagued by corrution cases like Bofors in 1980s due to foreign funding however with more digitisation norms, DTAA, Advanced Pricing Arrangement and recent norms on Source based taxation situation to track flow would become simpler.
Policy could only be dictated if it has financial control over the company assets in form of loans or obligations-
1) India has foreing reserves of 400 billion dollar kind of problem of plenty
2) Credit Rating is BBB and is expected to improve in 57 years yet 75billion $ FDI every year
3) Foreign debt (corporate + government) is 450 billion $ of which most is long term and healthy cover of foreign exchange. GOvernment debt is 20-30 billion $ only
4) No leverage to IMF and World Bank infact we no longer avail developmental loans
West has only one leverage 1) TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY PERIOD !!!!. You cannot deny but the benefit is 40 lakh Indians in US are important driver of that change and it is expected they would help in bridging the gap.
Biggest leverage of India 1) human capital 2) money to throw and spend.
As long as 120 cr people consume something the wheel will keep moving. Its expected governments try to promoted a balance growth considering the Gini Coefficient has doubled since 2004 to 0.48..!!!!
dsvrwgetetyjry
India is major emerging economy. Son its set to become 3rd largest economy in world. India needs nobody as its strong militarily and self-reliant economically unlike begger pakistan.