Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
no doubt unsettle many in the Bush administration. On Iraq, a similar gap
between Indian and American positions exists. New Delhi has little sympathy for
the American insistence on maintaining sanctions against Baghdad, deplores US
characterization of Iraq as a 'rogue state', and is eager to pursue business
opportunities in, and secure a steady supply of oil from, Iraq.
Southeast Asia, another region described as a venue for US-Indian
cooperation, is hardly more promising. New Delhi, its 'Look East policy'
notwithstanding, has few assets and little ability to influence events in the
region. Aside from occasional port calls and high-level visits, its presence in
Southeast Asia is minimal, and the mechanisms for Indo-American collaboration
not apparent. While the Indian government seeks a more cordial relationship
with the military junta in Burma, Washington holds the regime at arms length. It
is not by accident that the United States has been decidedly unenthusiastic about
New Delhi's aspirations for membership in the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) forum.
Moreover, it is difficult to imagine a meaningful strategic partnership where
one partner maintains sanctions against the other. In the weeks after September
11, Bush lifted the remaining sanctions that had been imposed following India's
nuclear tests in 1998, but other restrictions pertaining to nuclear and missile
technology transfers remain in force. These will probably be removed in due
course, but until then, New Delhi will be blocked from acquiring radars,
antimissile defense systems, and other items it badly wants. Beyond that, the
continued existence of sanctions of any sort will serve as a constant reminder to
many Indians that the United States does not yet regard them as full-fledged
partners and sovereign equals.
It is true that Washington and New Delhi have discussed increased military
cooperation in non-controversial fields such as peacekeeping, search and rescue,
disaster response and humanitarian assistance, and environmental security. But
joint action in these areas of peripheral or secondary importance does not
indicate a genuine strategic partnership, any more than cooperation on HIV/
AIDS, white collar crime, or women- and child-trafficking. To the contrary, an
emphasis on these forms of cooperation as a substitute for convergence on issues
more directly associated with traditional political and security concerns may well
indicate an immature partnership still searching for a raison d'être.
An Anti-China Consortium?
There remains the important matter of China. Indians have neither forgotten nor
forgiven China's close ties with Pakistan, links that up to the present day give
Pakistan a military capability far greater than anything Islamabad could achieve
by itself. Reports in early 2001 of new transfers of Chinese ballistic missile
technology to Pakistan—notwithstanding Chinese pledges to eschew all such
