Round The World
New Delhi, 26 March 2021
India-NATO
Tie Up
NEED OF
THE HOUR
By Dr.
D.K. Giri
(Prof.
International Relations, JIMMC)
Within a
week of the high summit of Quad, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin was in
New Delhi. After Joe Biden took over the leadership of USA, this was the first
visit of the Secretary of Defence to any country outside the US. The inference
made is that US attaches prime importance to bilateral relationship with India.
Lloyd Austin talked about, “India being the central pillar of our approach to
the region”. His Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh hailed the visit contributing
to realisation of full potential of India-US comprehensive global partnership.
However,
the million dollar question is where is this partnership heading to? New Delhi
has been shy of any formal entanglement with a foreign power. That is why
perhaps Rajnath Singh was trying hard in the joint press briefing that both of
them covered a wide range of issues, normal in a bilateral meeting. They also
avoided any direct mention of the C-word (China). Indubitably, the thrust of
the exchange was on the common threat from China.
As it was
referred in last week’s piece in this column of March 19, New Delhi is riding
two horses at the same time. It is a part of the western block as well as the
one led by Russia and China. Apart from creating confusion about India’s
so-called strategic autonomy, it is eroding India’s ability to exercise the
desired influence in world politics plus weakening it security-wise.
New Delhi
continues to be caught between the three strategies in its foreign policy:
non-alignment, alliance building and multi-alignment. To deal with them briefly,
non-alignment is not practicable, it has not been from day one. Recall, New
Delhi’s equivocation in 1956 on Suez crisis and invasion of Hungary, the peace
and friendship treaty of 1971 and multiple alliances of late-- Quad, SCO,
BRICS, SAARC, BIMSTEC and so on. In a polarised world, especially when Beijing
is breathing down our neck, New Delhi can ill-afford to remain neutral. Many
India-observers would suggest, “Indians should be under no illusions that a
truly non-aligned path remains a viable option”.
No
gainsaying the fact that Chinese army, the biggest in the world receives at
least three times more funding than the Indian army, the fourth largest in the
world. Although, Indian army is more battle-ready than the Chinese, it should
be wary of one-on-one military confrontation. It would need alliance and
goodwill support. Purely from the point of view of countering the Chinese
threat, New Delhi should enter into a concrete military alliance.
The third
strategy is going for multiple alignments. This will dissipate New Delhi’s
focus and commitment. In fact, this is what New Delhi is pursuing at present. The
Global Times, the official newspaper of China says New Delhi suffers from
contradictory impulses in its foreign policy by being a part of several blocks.
The US seems to be accommodative of such stances by its partners, but imposes
sanctions under CAATSA if the partners did defence deals with its principal
rival Russia (Formerly Soviet Union). New Delhi therefore will have to
negotiate a waiver if it transacts defence contracts with Russia. Therefore,
multi- alignment is fraught with crises of confidence and confusion.
The
obvious choice therefore is to go for a robust security alliance. The Quad is a
strong candidate for such a framework. New Delhi has no other choice than to
align with the Quad. It has to shed the traditional diffidence and ‘sitting on
the fence’ on alliance building. It is time to formalise the Quad into a
security alliance. As all the four members of Quad are concerned about the
common China threat, India is on the frontline as its immediate neighbour
sharing largest boundary. India needs to take the initiative in drafting the
India-Pacific charter, nudging the other members in identifying the operational
headquarter. There is no more room for manoeuvre with Beijing as it harbours
delusions of grandeur and follows imperialist designs.
Along with
the security dimension, Quad should promote industrial integration, create
supply chain initiatives to substitute China, and invite other countries
practising democracy and subscribing to a rule-based international order. Admit
it or not, China poses a common threat to all the four members in security,
trade and technology. Worse, China represents the political order which is
authoritarian and opaque at home and imperialist and expansionist abroad. The
democratic world has to counter it and consolidate universal values of liberty,
equity and human rights.
In the
interim, until the Quad matures into a solid block, New Delhi should consider
partnering with NATO, the most powerful military block in the world. NATO is
largely led by US and India has already moved closer to it in security
relations by signing the foundational agreements like LEMOA, COMCASA and BECA.
These agreements enable India to access cutting edge weapons and communication
system. However, membership of NATO will lend an additional security profile to
India.
NATO
members should offer partnership to India when they meet in early spring. NATO
should be equally concerned about Chinese security threats as India is about
stopping the juggernaut of Chinese power. In the past, NATO was hesitating to
invite India without Pakistan. Well, that was a time when NATO was fully
engaged in Afghanistan requiring some kind of support from Pakistan. Things have
changed. Now China is a bigger threat than Talibans.
Likewise,
India was not responding to NATO overtures because of its traditional aversion
to joining any rival geo-political block. As argued earlier, it is high time
New Delhi moves away from such posture. It is true that, as per Article 5 of
NATO, partnership does not guarantee collective defence against arm aggression.
But it provides several other benefits – defence dialogues,
military-to-military planning, joint exercises for readiness and
inter-operability and so on. New Delhi, therefore, should take advantage of
these provisions included in the NATO structure.
In joining
NATO, New Delhi should only worry about giving up the disproportionate alliance
on Russia for weapon support. In terms of maintaining autonomy in its foreign
policy, New Delhi will have enough space. NATO allies like Switzerland,
Finland, Sweden and Austria are neutral. There are partners of NATO like Israel
and Egypt. Therefore, India will have room to follow its foreign policy
objectives without constraints from NATO partnership.
The
biggest dividend of consolidating Quad and the membership of NATO will be much
reduced expense on defence for New Delhi. It can then concentrate on building
its economy, attracting investment, mainly from those companies trying to
relocate away from China. India’s neutrality qua non-alignment has imposed a
heavy cost on its defence preparedness. While it is competing with China, whose
economy is five times bigger, New Delhi needs to be strategic, cut down heavily
on defence expenditure. Partnership with NATO will help in that area.
In sum,
New Delhi needs to do at least three things, first, a strong China policy,
second, a robust security alliance, third, a viable trade and investment
approach. As long as New Delhi is seized with building its defence capability
by squandering its resources, it will not be able to build a strong economy,
promote healthy development and maintain its democracy and pluralism. These
three domestic imperatives are the need of the hour as determinants of India’s
foreign policy. ---INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature
Alliance)
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