Stand up to the US, but be careful about standing with China

Trump has burnt painstakingly built bridges, but China can't be counted on to not quietly burn bridges India builds with it

- Barkha Dutt

While I have had a fair idea of the US disconnect with Indian sentiment over President Donald Trump’s bizarre tariff war, the ever-widening gap between Americans of a certain ideological persuasion and the Indian response became evident to me ona recent show hosted by UK TV presenter Piers Morgan.

Brigadier general Mark Kimmitt, who retired from the US army, was among Morgan's guests. A former assistant secretary of State in the George W Bush administration and a military veteran with 30 years in service, Kimmitt astonished me when he used the word “arrogance” to describe India’s unbending position before Trump's bullying. Then, he argued that the recent bonding between the US and Pakistan's Field Marshal Asim Munir should “give India pause.”

The context for the show was China’s display of military might, with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by the side of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Morgan wanted to know if China was the new sheriff of the global neighbourhood.

The image of the Modi-Putin-Xi power huddle from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit a day before the Chinese military parade was on everyone's minds. Kimmitt and a couple of others wanted to know what India was doing in the corner of “authoritarians”.

If the meltdown in America over the pictures from China is over “democratic values”, then the new love fest between Donald Trump and Pakistan's army chief makes the opposite argument, doesn't it? After all, from no other country did the military chief accompany the supposedly elected prime minister to the SCO summit.