Indian Prime Minister’s Visit May Show Shift in US Policy

It seems odd that the largest democracy in the world, India, and the oldest democracy, the USA, aren’t better friends – if indeed democracy is all the Busheviks say it is. Yet, the relationship between the two since Indian independence in 1948 has been tepid at best. That may change today as Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India, comes to Washington.

In the bad old days, the US decided who its friends were based on how much they hated the Soviet Union. Thus, America had pals in ugly little dictators like Pinochet in Chile and Syngman Rhee in South Korea and making nice with the apartheid regime of South Africa was policy. India, because of its geography, was much more concerned about China and therefore was a bit soft toward the Soviets, and therefore, was viewed with suspicion by Washington. Nixon’s Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, was caught on tape (as was everybody else in that administration) saying “The Indians are bastards anyway.”

Circumstances have changed, though. There is no Soviet Union for Americans to fear. India is no longer a nation of underfed charity cases (although Dr. Singh’s election was a reminder that there are still many who aren’t better off) but rather a nation with a growing middle-class – and thus a good trading partner. At the same time, the Muslim world has become a problem for Washington and has always been a challenge for India (which has something like 100 million Muslim citizens, despite the partition at independence). And if any nation can balance the rise of China, it is rising India

The White House has already signaled that India now counts as a friend and ally. The Prime Minister will address a joint session of Congress, something few world leaders do as only the closest of allies are invited. Deals are coming on education, agriculture and science, including nuclear science. It seems also that Mr. Bush is prepared to look the other way at India’s Bomb and the fact that it hasn’t signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty. And while General Musharraf’s Pakistan is a key ally in the “war on terror,” Mr. Bush is one coup d’etat away from having a nuclear-armed enemy in that fight. India’s proximity fixes that to a degree.

Robert Blackwill, who was the US ambassador to India in Mr. Bush’s first term, said last week, “The rise of India and China is more important that the disintegration of the Soviet Union or the unification of Germany.” That isn’t true at all, but it does show where the Bush administration’s policy on India is headed. If so, this would be one facet of foreign policy that Mr. Bush and his team have right.



© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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