China and India have been in dispute over border issues for decades; but recently a border clash led to the death of 20 Indian soldiers. Then, weeks after the deadly clash, an American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier entered the Bay of Bengal, drawing attention across the region. So, the conflict accelerated India’s relations with the U.S. This move as the article pointed out is a sign to China and others that the U.S. is standing by India.
There is no doubt that China has been aggressive of late in the region, just like Russia is also trying to expand its influence in the Balkans. So, it is not surprising that both the U.S. and India “have recognized the importance of the other,” said Nisha D. Biswal, President Barack Obama’s assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs. He also added that “the Indians are looking for like-minded strategic and security partners, given concerns around a destabilizing environment in the Indo-Pacific.”
It came out that Washington still don’t have a signed alliance. But with the Himalayan crisis, things are changing. India and the U.S. are looking to closing a military cooperation whereby India is planning to purchased American weapons estimated at $20 billion. Moreover, some experts are wondering whether that the border dispute will move India closer into a regional partnership with the United States, Japan and Australia, also called the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or “Quad.”
However, many worry that these warming ties between the U.S. and India have not address some serious human rights concerns, that is, India’s persecution of Muslims. In fact, it is said that PM Modi is a Hindu nationalist who is very biased against Muslims. Upon many protests against his religious-driven policies, he proceeded to lockdowns and suspended phone and internet services.
It’s reported that even late last year, Mr. Modi also came up with a law that laid out a path to citizenship for people from six religious minorities who arrived to India before 2015 but he excluded Muslims. The very action led to mass protests across India and resulted in a brutal police crackdown. So therefore, human rights experts say that “it is troubling that the United States talks so strongly about human rights abuses in China, but is willing to engage in deeper diplomatic and strategic ties with India where similar situations are occurring.”So in this case, what can the U.S. possibly do to remedy this dichotomy of foreign policy?
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/03/world/asia/india-china-trump.html
Marcus,
The dynamics of great power relations in Asia/South Asian are clearly evolving. As we discussed in an earlier class, there is “balancing” going on, as India in particular sees a need to build a network of alliances that will convince a rising China not to commit aggression on the common border with India. India is also not alone in worrying about China’s intentions and trying to “triangulate” a response by building up alliance relationships. What’s particularly interesting about this is that for many decades India was a leader of the so-called “Non-Aligned Movement”, which tried to stay out of the Cold War struggle between the US and the then Soviet Union. –Professor Wallerstein