- Prelims: Current events of international importance(India-US relations), disputes with China(Mapping) etc
- Mains GS Paper II: Bilateral, regional and global grouping involving India, Significance of Indo-Pacific for India etc
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
- Two U.S. Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson in 1963 and Richard Nixon in 1971.
- Johnson denied aid to India in the wake of China’s perfidious attack on India in 1962.
- Nixon during the India-Pakistan conflict in 1971 for sending the U.S. Seventh Fleet steaming up the Bay of Bengal.
INSIGHTS ON THE ISSUE
Context
India-US Relations:
- India-U.S. bilateral relations have developed into a “global strategic partnership.
- Relationship is based on:
- Shared democratic values
- Increasing convergence of interests on bilateral, regional and global issues.
Areas of Cooperation:
Background of relationship development between India and US:
- Clinton-Vajpayee-era: It gave impetus to summit-level diplomacy in the relationship
- The Manmohan-Bush and Manmohan-Obama relationship: It highlighted nuclear diplomacy
- Modi-Obama and Modi-Trump worked on trade and military diplomacy.
USA’s stand now:
- The promise of the transfer of technology in several areas.
- Producing fighter jet engines for the Indian Air Force
- Holding out the promise of the initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET).
Benefit for India:
- Agreements on critical technologies could lead to a quantum jump in India’s military and aerospace capabilities.
- Attempt by the U.S. to persuade India to accept an alliance status, vis-à-vis, the U.S.
- Strategic ties are certain to attain a new dimension.
- It could lead to “a deeper, effective, and more diverse defense partnership”.
Indian visits before:
- There were visits by Jawaharlal Nehru: He met with Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy)
- Lal Bahadur Shastri’s visit never happened in the end.
- Indira Gandhi’s visit to Washington as Prime Minister was a disaster of sorts
- Both India and the U.S. had their own versions of what transpired.
- Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s visit was by all accounts deemed a success.
The civil nuclear deal shift:
- The opening up of civil nuclear cooperation between India and the U.S. marked the beginning of a tectonic shift in global affairs at the start of the 21st century.
- India secured a waiver under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
- It obtained the approval of the U.S. Congress for the iconic 123 Agreement.
- It paved the way for an India-specific Safeguards Agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Implication:
- India today has the freedom to maintain a select number of reactors outside IAEA Safeguards
- It enabled India to utilize them for military purposes.
- India currently enjoys reprocessing and enrichment and other critical outcomes that stemmed from the visit.
Why is The United States of the 21st century different from the U.S. in the late 20th century?
- S. politics is currently in a state of flux — more so than at most times in the past.
- The individual preferences of the U.S. President in office and the ‘swing factor’ in U.S. foreign policy
Recent developments:
- Technology diplomacy: The unprecedented new promise of Transfer of Technology (ToT) from the U.S.
- It was a result of the Memorandum of Understanding between General Electric (GE) Aerospace and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) “to produce fighter jet engines for the Indian Air Force”.
The civil nuclear deal
- In 1998, the U.S. imposed sanctions on India mandated by the Arms Export Control Act.
- The US signed a waiver to the sanctions on both India and Pakistan.
- The Bush administration’s push for civil nuclear exemptions, resulted in the India-U.S. Joint Statement in 2005.
- A waiver under the Non-Proliferation Act, the Henry Hyde Act and the 123 Agreement with India.
- It also led to an India-specific exemption at the Nuclear Suppliers Group in 2008.
- The Obama visit to Delhi in 2010: Implementation of all the waivers of the previous decade.
- It was another set of exceptions for India on export controls and high technology trade
- Transfers under the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).
The significance of these exceptions:
- NPT: They were made despite India never joining the Nuclear Non-Proliferation (NPT) Treaty regime, nor did it sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.
- These were “India-specific” waivers not available to other non-NPT countries such as Pakistan.
- They were crucial indicators of the shift in U.S. alignment in South Asia.
Way Forward
- India needs to be cautious because India is familiar with the way the U.S. changes its priorities, and friends.
- India should realize that it cannot at any time, be the kind of ally that the U.S. seeks.
- The current euphoria in relations notwithstanding, the situation has been dictated due to circumstance rather than conviction.
- India cannot possibly be part of an arrangement such as the AUKUS Pact that binds the U.S. with the United Kingdom and Australia.
- The fundamentals underlying the Quad and AUKUS are very different.
- India must use the outcome of the Prime Minister’s visit to skilfully function as a ‘bridge power’.
- India should play such a role, and should not be inveigled through blandishments such as defense ties.
- India’s potential should be marshaled to act as a bridge between conflicting parties in the Indo-Pacific, in West Asia and in Europe.
- This could be the enduring legacy of the Prime Minister’s latest visit to the U.S., which has occasioned so much interest not only in the U.S. and India, but across the world.
QUESTION FOR PRACTICE
The USA is facing an existential threat in the form of China, that is much more challenging than the erstwhile Soviet Union.” Explain.(UPSC 2021) (200 WORDS, 10 MARKS)
