Blinken visit: A shot in the arm for Indo-US ties

The visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to New Delhi on July 28 put the seal on strategic partnership between the two largest democracies and established India’s special position for Biden Presidency. The US and India are now on a path of unhindered friendship having moved towards convergence on a host of crucial issues including the challenge of the pandemic, climate, emerging technologies, security of Indo-Pacific and return of a democratic and inclusive regime in Afghanistan.

In his interaction with civil society groups during the visit, Blinken spoke of the democratic values and put both the US and India on the same page by describing democracy as ‘work in progress’ and emphasising the importance of fundamental freedoms and institutional independence in cementing the relationship between the two nations. There was a sense of goodwill and transparency about what was said by the visiting dignitary — the opposition here interpreting it as an oblique criticism of the present Indian ruling dispensation was just pursuing its own political agenda.

President Biden is primarily focused on China as the new leader of the Communist world and the American line of defending fundamental freedoms and human rights is directed basically against that adversary. The US President it may be recalled, had, while addressing the Congress recently, described China in his own words as ‘our most serious competitor’ and christened President Xi Jinping as ‘an autocrat who was earnest about becoming the most significant and consequential nation in the world’. The threat from an aggressive China is now the biggest global concern for US and India and this alone makes the maiden trip of Antony Blinken extremely gainful for India in terms of its strategic value. India’s External Affairs Minister and NSA handled the visit of US Secretary of State extremely well letting no ambiguity come in the way of India’s resolve to safeguard its own national interests while pushing ahead with Indo-US strategic friendship.

On the all-important issues of Indo-Pacific and Tibet, Blinken showed a degree of clarity and firmness of the US line that should please India. On the eve of Blinken’s arrival in Delhi a statement issued by Washington supported India’s emergence as a ‘leading global power and a vital partner’ for making the Indo-Pacific a region of stability and economic inclusion. At the same time US defence secretary Lloyd Austin, who had visited India before Blinken, accused China of working against the shared principles and interests of the US and its partners across the Indo-Pacific, opposed China’s claims in the South China Sea and pointed out that there was ‘aggression of China against India, destabilising military activity against the people of Taiwan and genocide of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang’.

The Secretary of State declared on his arrival in India that there were few relationships “more vital” than the India-US partnership and remarked that this was the “key to anchoring the Indo-Pacific region and beyond”. Blinken sought to lay the groundwork for Quad ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific and at his meeting with Prime Minister Modi discussed “regional challenges, cooperation on COVID-19 response, climate change, shared values and US-Australia-India-Japan Quad advancement”. India has moved closer to Quad with the Prime Minister attending its first summit on March 12 this year — India rightly sees Quad as an instrument of added security for Indian Ocean nearer home. India is willing to participate in the exercise by naval ships of US and other Quad members in the Indo-Pacific for protecting its maritime freedom.

Antony Blinken began his formal engagements in Delhi on July 28 by meeting NgodupDongchung of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). Presenting a scarf from the Dalai Lama to Blinken, Dongchung conveyed CTA’s gratitude for the US administration’s backing of the Tibetan cause. Shortly thereafter, Blinken also met GesheDorjiDamdul, Director of Tibet House in New Delhi at the civil society round table. All this came as the strongest signal from the US of support to the Dalai Lama in a long time.

The significance of these meetings being held in Delhi was not lost on the Chinese. In a rare public message from India, Prime Minister Modi wished the Dalai Lama on his 86th birthday. The Chinese government was quick to lash out at the US Secretary of State for meeting the Dalai Lama’s representative in New Delhi terming it as a violation of the “US commitment to acknowledge Tibet as a part of China”. The Chinese foreign ministry statement went on to assert that “the 14th Dalai Lama is not a mere religious figure but a political exile who has long engaged in anti-China activities trying to separate Tibet from China”.

The US-India convergence on the issue of Tibet reflects India’s determination not only to counter Chinese aggressiveness against us on LAC but also join the effort of the democratic world to contain the Chinese designs elsewhere. The Modi regime’s firm and clear responses on national security issues show the political will of the Prime Minister and his firm belief in the capacity of India as a major power to stand up to any hostile country for defending our national interests. India’s foreign policy of favouring bilateral and multilateral relations on the principles of mutual economic and security advantage as well as world peace has stood us well. Prime Minister Modi gets the credit for guiding this strategy — setting aside the ideological baggage that India had carried from the past all along.

In the context of the emerging bipolarity between the democratic world led by the US and an assertive China steering what remained of the Communist domain at the end of the Cold War, there is little doubt that India would be with the former while focusing on safeguarding our own security and economic interests.

India has already been addressing the matter of trade imbalance with China just as the US was engaged in dealing with that problem. Ever since the Sino-Pak military alliance became active against India following the abrogation of Article 370 relating to Kashmir by the Indian Parliament in Aug 2019, India has had to deal with China’s aggressive moves in Ladakh and Pakistan’s renewed plans of infiltrating Mujahideen into the Valley — using even drones to surreptitiously drop arms and explosives for their use. India has to frame a policy of countering these two adversaries on our borders — largely on its own and with the support of strategic partners wherever this would work.

It is here that the issue of Afghanistan has unravelled some serious points of security concern for India on which Indo-US friendship did not apparently hold out much promise. India and the US in principle have common goals in preventing a forcible Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and ensuring installation of a democratic and inclusive regime there. The dubious role of Pakistan in pretending to be helpful in bringing about a peace agreement between the US and Taliban on the one hand and implicitly backing the violent Taliban in taking on the Ashraf Ghani government, on the other, is putting India’s position in Afghanistan in serious jeopardy.