US-China Ties | India’s Strategic Autonomy Ensures It’s Not A Geopolitical Pawn

(Image Source: Reuters)

Summers in Washington DC are sultry, scolding and heated both for the weather and for the discourse emanating from think-tanks, academia and the embassies.

One such summer day in DC, an unnamed diplomat, at an unnamed event, unequivocally stated that India is not a strategic counterweight to China. India is one-fifth of China’s economy, and the only geopolitical power that can compete with China would be the United States.

Where does this kerfuffle originate from?

The robust partnership between New Delhi and Washington rests on the pillars of strategic partnership on defence and the union of foreign policy goals such as the Quad, on mitigating a belligerent Chinese threat, and on aspiring to a ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’.

Other reasons for this growing US-India ties are India’s burgeoning economy, a strong diaspora connection epitomised by Indian Americans at the highest echelons of the public and private sector, and — the secret sauce — the understanding of shared democratic values.

Chinese Threat

Of course, there is no economic altruism towards India, apart from a quid-pro-quo for US exports and the elephant in the room, which is China. The US has had many adversaries in the past, from the British Empire, to Nazi Germany to Imperial Japan, to the Soviet Union, and then the economic…