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>India is a huge country, with enormous resources and a certain sense of
pride as
<one of the world's ancient civilizations. This will inhibit
any
>inclination to act at the behest of the US. But when India and the
US
>agree to "collaborate in limited international operations, when
in
>their national interest", it is time for other states,
especially
>India's neighbors, to take serious note.
Looks like a stamp of
approval from our neighbor in recognizing India as a rising super power partner
with USA.
This coming from an ex ambassador is
great.
RB
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, December 30, 2005 7:20
PM
Subject: Re: [Assam] India, in 2005 - A
Pakistani view, The Dawn
a generous view by Pakis.
It
was a pleasant surprise reading this from The Dawn. If Pakistanis
can
clearly see the strides India has been making, one wonders what
exactly
would satisfy our own homegrown
naysayers?
--------------------------------------------------
India's
achievements in 2005
By Tariq Fatemi
THE well-known American
scholar on South Asia, Professor Stephen
Cohen, in his definitive study
on India published in 1996, had
described the country as an "emerging
power". This appellation had
raised some eyebrows, for while India had
been doing well, many
analysts were not sure whether, at that point in
time, it could be
considered as an emerging global power. Now, there are
no such doubts.
The year ending has been a successful one for India.
It is now a
recognized player on the world stage, influential both in the
realm of
politics as well as in global trade deliberations. The graph
started
going up earlier, when after the June 2004 general elections,
western
observers were deeply impressed by the quiet dignity with which
Prime
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee acknowledged the popular will, and
even
before the election commission had announced the results, decided
to
tender his resignation. This was democracy at its
best.
Thereafter, the Congress-led coalition government headed by
Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh, succeeded in staving off pressure from
its
left-oriented coalition partners, particularly regarding
economic
liberalization policies. Resultantly, the Indian economy has
continued
to grow at nearly eight per cent per year.
But it is in
the field of foreign policy that the year under review
has been a
remarkable one for India. Its stable polity and
investor-friendly
policies, coupled with a strong leadership, have
resulted in a conscious
effort by the world's major powers to woo
India, not only to take
advantage of its increasingly attractive
economic opportunities, but also
to ensure that its voice and vote
remain on their side.
India's
relations with the US have registered visible progress. The
year began
with the US and India signing an agreement in January, to
facilitate
greater trade and economic cooperation between them. Then,
after months
of intense diplomatic negotiations, India and the US
signed a 10-year
defence arrangement in June 2005. It will be recalled
that because of the
dynamics of Cold War politics, India's security
planners had either opted
for the domestic production of defence
weapons or depended on the former
Soviet Union for these.
But Indian force requirements prompted an
increase in defence ties
with Washington. The latter offered top of the
line systems such as
the F-18 Super Hornets along with co-production
possibilities, and
also sold sophisticated Firefinder radar systems,
while approving the
sale of Israeli-made Phalcon airborne warning
systems, making India
one of the few countries to have this
capability.
While the world was still in the midst of appreciating
the scope and
scale of this agreement, Prime Minister Singh's visit to
Washington on
July 18 resulted in another agreement that both sides
claimed would
raise bilateral ties to an unprecedented level and accord
it a
strategic dimension with global reach. While political pundits
differ
on the details, there is near unanimity regarding the
driving
motivation of the two countries in reaching this agreement.
If
approved by the Congress and endorsed by other nuclear powers,
it
would remove the ban on civilian nuclear technology sales to
Delhi.
India could then obtain nuclear fuel and nuclear components from
the
US and other countries, though it would have to allow
international
inspections and agree to safeguards on its civilian
nuclear
facilities.
The agreement, therefore, is significant as
India is closer to gaining
near-formal acceptance as a nuclear weapons
state. Incidentally, these
actions were in line with the recommendations
of the influential think
tank Carnegie Endowment that the administration
strengthen India to
prevent Chinese domination of the region, and to this
end, allow the
sale of dual-use technology, including nuclear equipment
to India,
while abandoning Washington's historic quest to maintain a
military
balance between India and Pakistan.
Although Singh did
not receive everything he wanted, including
Washington's public support
for its bid for a permanent Security
Council seat, Bush's agreement to
supply nuclear fuel and technology
was a historic breakthrough in
US-India relations and confirmation of
Delhi's emergence as a major world
power. Earlier, the CIA had
described India as the most important "swing
state" in the
international system and a country that could tilt the
balance between
war and peace.
Under-Secretary Nicholas Burns, in
a policy statement, declared that
the US "looks upon India as a natural
partner" that is likely to be "a
rising global power", which will
"require substantially greater US
attention" in the coming years.
Washington's message is that it now
considers India its closest ally in
this part of the world.
Admittedly, India may find aspects of the
agreements irksome as they
may impinge on New Delhi's freedom of action.
After all, American
scholars have admitted that the administration's
emphasis is on
building up India as "a potential hedge against a rising
China". China
poses no threat to the US either today or in the near
future, and yet
is portrayed as one. This is because even if China is not
a threat
today, it could, at some point in time, become a rival to the
US, in
economic and military terms and is likely to challenge the US in
its
quest for the world's natural resources. As China rises like
a
colossus on the world stage, the US would like to see a stronger
India
that can keep the Chinese off balance. This is how the US used
China
to balance the Soviet Union in the '70s and the '80s.
The
Chinese have reacted to these developments with their usual
cool
detachment, neither ignoring nor panicking at the emergence of
the
Washington-New Delhi axis. Instead, Beijing has chosen to counter
this
development by strengthening its own relations with its
southern
neighbour by seeking to remove irritants in relations with
India,
while identifying new areas of economic cooperation. China no
longer
considers India a rival, but a competitor, with which it
seeks
meaningful political dialogue and mutually advantageous
economic
collaboration.
In fact, the Chinese are the ones who have
taken the initiative to
focus on the commonality of interests and views
with India, rather
than on their differences. Prime Minister Wen Jiabao
surprised the
Indians during his official visit to India in April, when
he referred
to Sino-Indian relations as "strategic".
He also drew
attention to the far-reaching benefits that could accrue
to both
countries from a close collaboration between their IT firms,
pointing to
the global impact of mating "Chinese hardware with Indian
software".
Recently, China joined with India to purchase major stakes
in Syrian oil
fields, the first time the two Asian rivals in the race
for global energy
resources, have worked in tandem.
As India's traditional friend and
its primary benefactor over decades,
Russia could not countenance being
left behind in the race to curry
favour, nor could President Vladimir
Putin allow a friend in whom his
country had invested so much time,
energy and money, to drift apart.
During Singh's visit to Moscow earlier
this month, Putin repeatedly
referred to the "strategic relationship
between the two countries". He
agreed to maintain trade benefits that New
Delhi had been enjoying for
years and also recognized India's need for
advanced weapons at the
usual favourable terms.
The European Union
remains conscious of the need to establish
long-term, comprehensive
relations with New Delhi. It, therefore, not
only maintained its summit
level dialogue with the Indian leadership,
but chose to enter into a
wide-ranging action plan, which it calls a
"strategic partnership". It
also emphasizes that "there are few major
countries in the world with
whom the EU has more in common in terms of
fundamental values" than
India, adding that Delhi is "a major force
for stability in South Asia
and beyond".
What will be India's attitude to US wishes in the
region? India is a
huge country, with enormous resources and a certain
sense of pride as
one of the world's ancient civilizations. This will
inhibit any
inclination to act at the behest of the US. But when India
and the US
agree to "collaborate in limited international operations,
when in
their national interest", it is time for other states,
especially
India's neighbours, to take serious note.
In any case,
there is considerable political space between that of a
proxy state and
one working in close concert to promote those
interests that are to their
mutual advantage (India's vote on Iran at
the IAEA is a pointer of things
to come). If the US wishes to promote
India as the pre-eminent power in
the Indian Ocean littoral and in
South Asia, which Delhi, in any case,
regards as its sphere of
influence, there is no reason why India should
shy away from it. Of
course, as regards relations with Beijing, India
will do nothing to
arouse Chinese hostility while quietly encouraging
Washington's fears
and misgivings about China.
Pakistan is not
only a neighbour of both China and India, but in the
very vortex that is
likely to emerge because of the increasingly
complex relationships
developing in the region. It is also not
unlikely that both the US and
India will try to take advantage of
their emerging entente to seek unfair
advantages from Pakistan. This
could be in the field of commercial or
political relations. It is,
therefore, incumbent on our leaders not only
to resist such prospects,
but to strengthen our linkages with all major
power centres, so that
our concerns do not disappear from the radar
screens in these
capitals.
But most importantly, we must refrain
from any action that could even
remotely hurt our relations with China.
Time and events have proven
the value and worth of our ties to
Beijing.
The writer is a former
ambassador.
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Ed.M. - International
Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard
University,
Class of 2005
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