India's America-China-Pakistan test of balance

New Delhi is exhibiting maximum flexibility with DC, restoring normalcy with limits with Beijing, and preparing for an aggressive posture with Rawalpindi

- Prashant Jha

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has adopted three different approaches towards three of India's most important relationships in the past three months.

First, India is on a path of deeper alignment with the United States (US). Donald Trump's election meant there would not just be a new American administration but a new America itself. India had to decide if it wanted to pursue the course of deeper strategic alignment that it had embarked on with Washington DC exactly two decades ago when the nuclear deal was initiated. But this time, India would have to give rather than take. And this would entail intangibles such as constantly feeding Trump's ego while absorbing insults, tangibles such as economic benefits to American companies and producers, and getting more integrated with America's defence and tech ecosystems.

At one level, for New Delhi, this was an easy decision. Given India's technological needs, security challenges, employment-creation imperatives, popular sentiment, diaspora's interests, and aspirations for great power status, deepening ties with the US is logical and obvious. But translating what was a reasonable course of action into policy meant taking risks.

Track India's early signals — a prime ministerial visit to DC; willingness to take back illegal Indian immigrants even when they were sent back in inhuman conditions; committing to a time-bound discussion on a trade pact and offering tariff concessions on a range of goods, with even agricultural tariffs on the agenda; openness to review past approaches towards tech companies and regulations; commitment to amend the nuclear liability and atomic energy legislations; a promise to buy more US-produced energy and defence equipment and systems; and public statements about how on tech and trade, India's convergence is with the West.