Not Allies But Something Like It

Source– The post is based on the article “Not Allies But Something Like It” published in “The Times of India” on 23rd June 2023.

Syllabus: GS2- Bilateral groupings and agreements

Relevance– India and US bilateral relations

News – Prime Minister Modi is on an official visit to the USA.

Is India-US relationship a strategic partnership?

The US-India relationship has been described as a strategic partnership since the signing of a civil nuclear deal in 2008.

A strategic partnership involves high levels of defense collaboration, intelligence sharing, multifaceted cooperation, broad-based political support, and stability.

The US-India partnership satisfies all these requirements, with increasing arms sales, defense technology transfers, intelligence sharing and military-to-military cooperation.

A rapidly diversifying portfolio of collaborations includes technology, space, clean energy, and higher education.

The partnership also enjoys multipartisan support in both countries and has not experienced any major crises in recent years. The partnership is more than a transactional relationship, but less than a formal alliance.

Is a formal alliance necessary for India-US security partnership?

Some critics argue that security partnership is limited in scope due to India’s unwillingness to become a formal ally.

But Washington is not pushing for formal alliance status because the partnership already has acquired some alliance-like qualities with foundational defense agreements.

India is also being designated as a Major Defense Partner, which grants access to military and dual-use technologies.

The strength of alliances in general may be overstated, as evidenced by the strained relationships between the US and some of its formal allies like Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.

Even during the Trump era when US relations with many of its European and East Asian treaty allies were strained, India-US relations mostly remained stable despite serious trade tensions.

 What are the major potential areas of collaboration?

A core agenda point is stepping up efforts to tackle the shared China challenge, which includes expanding both geographic and topical collaborations.

Bilateral cooperation is institutionalized in the Pacific through the Indo-Pacific Quad, and in the Middle East through the I2U2 grouping. A similar formal mechanism for cooperation in the Indian Ocean region is required.

To counter China, it is needed that India’s military capacity should be enhanced and integrate India into global supply chains for critical technologies, reducing reliance on China.

There may be a focus on partnering to provide financial and production support, both bilaterally and multilaterally, to deliver public goods such as vaccines, clean energy technologies, and infrastructure to countries in the Indo-Pacific region, to reduce their dependence on China.

Overall, the US-India strategic partnership, operating outside the formal alliance system, has been a foreign policy success for both countries.