US treating India as pawn in its rebalancing strategy to Asia-Pacific

[Srinivas_K]

US treating India as pawn in its rebalancing strategy to Asia-Pacific region, says Chinese daily : Asia, News - India Today

The US is only treating India as a pawn in its rebalancing strategy to the Asia-Pacific region, a Chinese daily said Tuesday.

The daily, Global Times, said that developing a good relationship with India will help Washington seek more support in international affairs and reduce the influence of emerging powers such as China in Asia.

The two countries are undoubtedly getting closer, but, it might be not as wonderful as it appears, because they both build their ties by taking advantage of each other, the Global Times said Tuesday in an op-ed page article "Pakistan, trade, emissions issues could frustrate closer Indian-US ties".

The daily said the US has never treated India as an equal friend and the global strategic background at present is the reason it values India so much.

It said that cultivating India as a partner will enhance the US influence in international affairs as well as the global economy.

For example, the US has nearly been dragged into a new Cold War with Russia due to the Ukraine crisis, while competition between the US and an emerging China also seems to be escalating.

Thus, India represents a singularly positive opportunity for Washington's "rebalancing" strategy in the Asia-Pacific region.

The daily said: "Developing a good relationship with India will help Washington seek more support in international affairs and reduce the influence of emerging powers such as China in Asia. In this regard, the US is only treating India as a pawn in its rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific region."

The article also said that India's rapid economic growth could provide more robust commercial ties with the US, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new "Make in India" campaign brings Washington substantial investment opportunities.

For India, piggybacking on the closer relationship with the US will benefit the people's livelihood through increasing economic cooperation and improving the country's infrastructure, it said.

The US could also assist India to emerge as a major global power by backing India for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, the article added.

Furthermore, by fostering a revitalisation of the relations between the two democracies, India will gain diversified support in the fields of military and technology.

However, as a country that has long maintained non-alignment policy, India has no intention to shift its diplomatic strategy, not now and not in the future. Consequently, any cooperation could be treated as nothing but seeking mutual benefit, the daily said.

Therefore, despite the fact that both sides are sending positive signals and working hard to ensure Obama's upcoming visit will be fruitful, it will prove hard for the US and India to become new best friends through a single visit. Several challenges are still confronting the two nations, the article said.

It also noted that Washington has a significantly different agenda to work out with India on climate change. The US is trying to reach a global agreement on binding emissions targets in which developing countries would abide by specific requirements on emissions.

India, however, finds itself a "victim" of the effects of climate change that are caused largely by Western nations' industrialisation long ago.

While the US is focused on extorting concessions from the developing countries over this issue, India has almost no choice but to boost its growth by using cheaper energy, given the size of its population and the current situation of development, the article said.

More critically, the development of US-Pakistan relations has cast a shadow on India-US ties. India and Pakistan have fought several wars and relations remain contentious.

Even though the India-US bond has grown stronger, the US will never stop considering Pakistan as its ally in the war on terror. So, it won't be a surprise if India responds negatively when the US keeps sending military aid to Pakistan.

The US and India hold more divergence on issues such as global trade talks and the establishment of a new global economic order.

All these are reasons to be skeptical of Indian-US ties, not because their achievements and advances are insignificant, but because their relationship has no foundational moorings. So, these potential problems will be likely to frustrate relations periodically, the daily said.

Obama will be warmly welcomed during his visit, New Delhi and Washington will grow closer, the two countries will strengthen their strategic partnership, but no breakthroughs will occur if all those challenges remain, the article added.



Read more at: US treating India as pawn in its rebalancing strategy to Asia-Pacific region, says Chinese daily : Asia, News - India Today

India is not a pawn of any country, India is much much more than that, time will prove it !

 

[EXPERT]

Re: US treating India as pawn in its rebalancing strategy to Asia-Paci

I am totally totally agree with this article...good observation CHINOS..

 

[ezsasa]

Re: US treating India as pawn in its rebalancing strategy to Asia-Paci

If US is treating india as a pawn we will be talking about aid not about trade. If you look at last three decades of American history all Americans pawns have a tendency to depend on American aid. Examples for American pawns are Pakistan, Liberia Grenada and some more South American countries etc.

I would rather believe we are trying our level best to avoid being a pawn in American hands. And then again nationalistic principles of current government and india being American pawn do not go hand in hand.

 

[Sambha ka Boss]

Re: US treating India as pawn in its rebalancing strategy to Asia-Paci

Nobody can make India as a pawn, Chinese communist media better stop spreading propaganda.

 

[Nicky G]

Re: US treating India as pawn in its rebalancing strategy to Asia-Paci

Simplistic analysis, clearly not much effort goes into these works of propoganda it seems, though it may suffice for the average Chinese, if they are the intended audience.

US will not stop considering Paki as an ally. Dubious but lets consider that to be accurate, India will not stop considering Russia as an ally.' Geo-politics is not a simple child's game of 'I-f you are his friend, I won't be yours'. Its all about a nation's interests. If US feels it benefits from a relationship, be it economical, strategic, defence with India and India feels the same way, we can move ahead.

'Pawn' is for slave states such as Pak who cannot even run their state without foreign aid. Everyone tries to use the other, its a matter of how robust and self-reliant one is that one gets to draw the line.

Anyway, this is usual Chinsese whining stemming out of their sense of insecurity at Indo-US ties and its implication of them, nothing to take seriously.

Actually, what China should be concerned about is a second nuke sub that their 'friend' Russia could soon lease out.

 

[warrior monk]

Re: US treating India as pawn in its rebalancing strategy to Asia-Paci

Every one is a american pawn who do you think buys Chinese junk in large number to bring china upto this level only US has the money and buying capacity . US population and companies owns trillions of dollars and we need a slice of that pie a big slice if you know what i mean .
US is and has been the most innovative country financially and scientifically for nearly a century no country comes even close and we need to learn from americans nothing wrong in that . Our coming close to US has nothing got to do with being a pawn but bringing US innovation and companies to India . No other country even comes closer to US in innovation , love them or hate them you need them .
If anyone knows an iota of economics imagine if US wouldn't have been there there wouldn't have been the so called German , Japanese and the Chinese miracle and the upcoming Indian miracle . Since US helped these economies directly or indirectly we want US to help us Indians thats it .
I wonder which currency would have been the reserve currency if not for US dollar the whole world trade would collapse because i wouldn't pay shit in Reminbi or Euro or Yen believe me nobody would after WW2 .
I don't like US but you have to give the Devil its due when it is due.

 

[roma]

Re: US treating India as pawn in its rebalancing strategy to Asia-Paci

Every one is a american pawn who do you think buys Chinese junk in large number to bring china upto this level only US has the money and buying capacity . US population and companies owns trillions of dollars and we need a slice of that pie a big slice if you know what i mean .
US is and has been the most innovative country financially and scientifically for nearly a century no country comes even close and we need to learn from americans nothing wrong in that . Our coming close to US has nothing got to do with being a pawn but bringing US innovation and companies to India . No other country even comes closer to US in innovation , love them or hate them you need them .
.

If US is treating india as a pawn we will be talking about aid not about trade. If you look at last three decades of American history all Americans pawns have a tendency to depend on American aid. Examples for American pawns are Pakistan, Liberia Grenada and some more South American countries etc.

I would rather believe we are trying our level best to avoid being a pawn in American hands. And then again nationalistic principles of current government and india being American pawn do not go hand in hand.

Nobody can make India as a pawn, Chinese communist media better stop spreading propaganda.

I am totally totally agree with this article...good observation CHINOS..

india is now on a roll , so we can expect a load more of this kind of junk
the products they manufacture are mostly junk and their journals too
these ccp dailies are not worth their weight in paper

but only in some other stuff

 

[prohumanity]

Re: US treating India as pawn in its rebalancing strategy to Asia-Paci

India WILL NOT be a pawn of any country...Not even US...Yes, there are a lot of common values India shares with USA and there is a great goodwill between Indians and Americans . Russia has been a reliable, steadfast friend of India..and India and Russia will never become adversaries because there is so much mutual respect and liking between Indians and Russians. As for China, the problem is that Indians do not understand Chinese people as there is so little communication between the two ..there is lot of Anti-China Western propaganda and Pakistanis keep spreading things to divide and create rift between India and China. Paki problem is that they have never learnt to have self respect and independent mindset...they think they need a "master" (if not USA..then China) to have any value in the world . People with very low self esteem have to hide under a bigger power to stay meaningful and relevant. Therefore, Pakistan has always been used as a pawn by some outside power and I think, they will remain a pawn...they don't know any other way to exist.

 

[sorcerer]

Re: US treating India as pawn in its rebalancing strategy to Asia-Paci

Mutual Economic Reforms Can Rejuvenate Indo-US ties

When U.S. President Barack Obama visits India to attend its Republic Day on January 26, he should propose a mutual reduction of economic barriers to rejuvenate the sputtering Indo-U.S. economic partnership.

U.S. corporations became a major foreign policy lobby for India after it embarked on economic reforms in the 1990s, creating a booming economic partnership. That ended when India stopped liberalizing after the Great Recession. Earlier, many Fortune 500 companies had set up shop in India. But after 2008, investment and trade flows decelerated sharply, and protectionist tendencies rose in both countries.

Obama should view energy as holding the greatest potential for the partnership. India is a major importer of oil and gas, and the U.S. is set (thanks to fracking) to become the world's largest oil and gas producer. However, its liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports are limited to countries that have signed free trade agreements with the U.S., and India hasn't. This has no economic logic. As a special case, India has been allowed limited LNG purchases from the proposed Cheniere terminal. The U.S. should drop the FTA clause, or at least greatly liberalize exceptions for countries like India.

The U.S. bans the export of unprocessed crude. This is dubious nationalism. The U.S. lacks the refining capacity to process all its sweet crude, but India has it. India is already buying U.S. natural gas liquids, and would be interested in U.S. crude as well.

The Indo-U.S. nuclear deal in 2005 was supposed to usher in a nuclear power boom in India. However, because of memories of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster, Indian legislators insisted on an unlimited liability clause to sue foreign suppliers in the event of an accident. Foreign suppliers find this clause too risky, so deals have stalled. The U.S. should work with India on devising an insurance policy suppliers can buy from an Indian government company, capping their risk. This will also help kick-start reactors supplied by France and Japan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants India to set up 100,000 MW of solar power capacity by 2030. However, the U.S. has taken India to a WTO dispute panel over its local content requirements. As the chief minister of Gujarat from 2002-14, Modi instituted international bidding for the state's solar projects, with no local content rules. He should do the same at the national level. Gujarat's Adani group has just announced a deal with SunEdison to invest $4 billion in possibly the world's biggest solar panel factory. The creation of globally competitive plants is the way to go, not local content rules.

India's software industry complains that the U.S. Border Security Act of 2010 imposes a penal visa fee on visiting software engineers if over half the company's workers are non-American. This provision was scheduled to expire in September 2014, but was extended to September 2015. Modi will seek—and should get—an assurance that this discriminatory provision will not be extended further.

Furthermore, India is a major purchaser of U.S. arms, and is the world's biggest arms importer. It has traditionally limited defense production to government companies. Modi seeks private participation, and has allowed foreign direct investment up to 49 percent in defense production, without management control. On this basis, India will never get world-class investments. It should allow investments by foreign-controlled investors: this will surely be better than simply importing arms, as is the case now.

U.S. drug companies complain of lax Indian patent rules, of compulsory licensing of patented drugs, and of price controls (India expanded the controlled list by 52 drugs in December). India's commitment to affordable medicines is too strong to be dented by U.S. pressure. However, U.S. companies are keen on acquiring Indian drug companies–Abbot Labs acquired Piramal Healthcare for $3.7 b and Mylan Inc acquired Agila Specialties for $ 1.6 billion. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has banned imports from several Indian facilities citing a lack of safe procedures, yet India supplies almost 40 percent of U.S. imports of generic drugs. So, the partnership is much stronger than the patents row may indicate.

Modi wants U.S. companies to participate in his "Make in India" drive to push up the share of manufacturing from 13 percent to 25 percent of GDP. He promises "red carpet, not red tape." But this requires a major overhaul of India's rules and regulations. The World Bank's Doing Business Index ranks India at 142nd of 189 countries in ease of doing business. Modi promises an overhaul of regulations to take India to the 50th position on this list. That is a move in the right direction. The faster he delivers, the more he will strengthen Indo-U.S. economic ties.

Mutual Economic Reforms Can Rejuvenate Indo-US ties | The Diplomat
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Sorry for bursting the Chinese Propaganda Bubble.. India has long seen US stategies around the world and knows how well to make use of dipomatic warmth from time to time to gain advantage for itself.
India and US relation is more on give and take policy on trade and support and NOT on aid and funds and loans. Such makes US position on India weak moreover US has 'known' Indian attitude through many of its diplomatic screwups. India very well know that US cannot be trusted. Thus.

US has acknowlegded that INDIA uses smart diplomacy to get what it needs.

For US, India is a potential place for its many service and trade related strategies. Ofcourse India has its place in its geo-strategic objectives. US can achieve the same using Pakistan to counter China very effectively and it is very much in play. It does not have to leverage on India for that.

China can keep manufacturing what they are good at cheap goodies including propaganda!!