Port Wings Editorial: Tread cautiously while getting closer to USA

Source: http://www.portwings.in/editorial/tread-cautiously-while-getting-closer-to-usa/

Port Wings Editorial, Feb 04, 2015;

In recent months, after BJP-led National Democratic Alliance wrested power from Congress, a popular sentiment within some circles in Washington as well as in New Delhi has been the possibility of a strategic relationship between the United States and India.

As anticipated, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was consistently denied visa (as Chief Minister of Gujarat) by the USA authorities for his alleged role in Gujarat Riots, went to the United States in September last as the Indian Prime Minister to attend United Nations General Assembly.

The reception PM Modi received in the American soil, be it at the UNGA or at the Madision Square Garden, totally changed the US perspective on Modi as Prime Minister of world’s largest democracy.

After marking his presence emphatically in the USA, PM Modi invited the American President Barack Obama to India’s Republic Day celebration back in New Delhi, which the latter readily accepted and graced the occasion few days ago.

With these heartwarming steps, President Obama has clearly demonstrated that India occupies a top position of the table in his diplomacy.It is not difficult to find reasons why there are advocates in both countries who are in favour of such a relationship.

For the United States, its overt core interests in the Asia-Pacific region are stability and the continuation of the current order it helped establish following the conclusion of the World War-II. Tacitly, it has a vested interest in maintaining its position as the dominant regional power – which in turn means that it must compete with a rising China, which seeks to wear the crown west of the Hawaiian Islands.

From the perspective of India, any increased or dedicated engagement with the United States at the expense of its long-established ties with Russia should be seen as a risky endeavor.

While Russia is a natural ally of India and wields handsome power in the United Nations General Assembly with Veto Power, inching towards America for securing permanent seat in UNGA would not augur well with both the Russia and China, the regional superpowers.

Though the USA-backed analysts spread across the globe had written off Russia of late as the country was facing 1990-style economic slowdown, history had proved again and again that the country, which has huge gas reserves and wealthy minerals bounced back and directly stared at the eyes of USA.

So, blindly buying the US theory on Russia and China and getting closer to the USA for New World Order could be proved drastically wrong in the longer run.

So, tread cautiously while inching closer to USA