Indo-Pacific security key focus of Feb 13 Trump-Modi summit

On February 13, President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are scheduled to meet in what could be their most consequential meeting yet.

- M.D. NALAPAT

As Trump approaches the first month of his second term in the White House, a volley of Presidential executive orders have blitzed through the US administration, creating both dismay and admiration. Several have been stayed by US Federal Courts, and it remains to be seen whether the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS), where several of the legal challenges are likely to end up, would affirm or deny many of them.

The US and India are the two largest democracies in the world, and a close partnership between them is a prerequisite for ensuring that the Indo-Pacific be freed of the dangers caused by the expansionist designs of the People's Republic of China (PRC). During Modi 3.0 and Trump 2.0, a kinetic showdown between the PRC and the US with its allies and partners is rising in probability. Such a situation is making the need for a strong partnership between the US and India essential for the eventual victory of the democracies in what is now termed Cold War 2.0, in the way they overcame the USSR during Cold War 1.0, which ended in 1991 with the implosion of the country.