Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
with India and to revive the Indo-US Defence Policy Group, stalled since 1997.
The same month, the new Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, Christina
Rocca, confirmed that the review of sanctions imposed upon India after the 1998
tests was 'underway'. No new US administration has put India 'on its radar
screen' so quickly and never had the US discussed global strategic issues with
India in such a way.
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Is Paris concerned with such a development, which may deprive France from
the benefits of having been the first Western power to recognize the legitimacy
of India's new assertiveness? The views of the French administration are in fact
congruent with its search for multipolarity. First, insiders in key ministries
remark that the new US perception of India proves Paris' Indian policy was
right. Second, France cannot expect to be the only Western country to develop
good relations with India. Third, it is believed that the Indo-French relationship,
no more alone in its category, but still the first in time, will preserve its
specificity.
Beyond the 'community of democracies' New Delhi and Washington are now
fond to invoke, Paris would still concur with Jaswant Singh's statement that both
France and India 'pride themselves on a tradition of independent thought and
action in foreign policy'.
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Fourth, and perhaps more importantly, both sides
know that India would not put all her eggs in the same basket. This choice would
be not just contrary to the established Indian practice, but also difficult, for the
pro-US stance has also reluctant supporters if not opponents in the Indian
administration.
It would also be unwise, considering the fluctuations of US policy, bound by
Congressional votes or Presidential decisions. In the US vocabulary, 'friends' is
sometimes a transient concept, as the Pakistanis know well. The US is seen as
too demanding, too hectoring, too conditional, too prone to reverse gear, to
accustomed to double standards, for India choosing to be one-sided. To get
access to US technology, to US surveillance data or even to the US BMD shield
—eventually extended not just to allies but to friends—is appearing promising,
but other parameters are not forgotten.
India would gain to strengthen her links with Washington, but not at the cost of
her Russian connections (hence the adjusted position on BMD). She could make
use of her new relations with Washington for enjoying a certain leeway
vis-à-vis
Beijing, but would not accept being used as a pawn against China. However
important the relationship with America turns out to be, India needs other
partners as well. The expected relation might not be much different from
Védrine's description of the US-France partnership conveyed to an Indian
audience: to be friends of the US does not imply to be 'aligned with them'.
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