Lack of friends at a time when India is a significant military and economic power surprises oldtime diplomats. Within living memory, the pendulum has swung from one extreme to the other; in the 1950s and 1960s when we had little to offer to the world except moral guidance, we were the undisputed leader of developing nations. Now, after five decades, we are probably the most hated country in our neighbourhood; our erstwhile friend and protector, Russia, takes pleasure in our discomfiture, USA, our new-found friend, takes pains to point out that it is not part of any military alliance with us, and loses no opportunity to rub it in that our friendship is not of equals ~ all the while China and its proxy Pakistan thumb their noses at us, with little reaction from any country in the world. We have ourselves to blame for most of our recent foreign policy failures. With a transactional foreign policy, we continued with China as our largest trading partner at a time when we had a simmering territorial dispute with her.

Also, our leadership ignored the fact that two of our major foreign policy goals, enunciated as late as 2014 viz. securing membership of the UN Security Council (UNSC) and Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), could not be realised due to strident opposition from China. It would appear that after giving full market access to China, we had nothing to offer in return for China’s support for our membership of these fora, which would have enabled us to claim equivalence with China. Additionally, no major power wants the status quo to change in our favour, by admitting us to the high table. Sceptics cast doubts on the terms of the recent disengagement with China fuelled by the Government’s insistence on not making the terms public, and evading discussion on this issue in Parliament.

Advertisement

As of now, China is planning to build a 60 GW mega-hydropower dam across the Yarlung Zangbo (Brahmaputra) at the Great Bend region of the Medogcounty in the Tibetan Autonomous Region in China, which will have serious implications for downstream riparian states, India, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Protests from India have been met with bland denials from China. Our Look East, and neighbourhood policies, lie in tatters because of intemperate statements by our leaders aimed at domestic audiences. For example, calling Bangladeshis termites and labelling all kinds of Muslims as Rohingyas, does not add to our popularity in our predominantly Muslim neighbourhood. Recounting a well-documented instance will suffice; certain unrestrained comments by a BJP spokeswoman against the Prophet in a TV show, amplified by social media, snowballed into a major international controversy.

The Vice-President was on an official visit to Qatar, when the comments in question were made. In no time, the warm welcome accorded to the Vice-President turned frosty. The Indian ambassador had to submit an abject apology; the entire lot of Islamic countries, the Gulf, Middle-East, Pakistan and Indonesia came out strongly against the spokeswoman. In a weak defence, the Government attributed the statements in question to ‘fringe elements,’ not acknowledging the spokeswoman as a representative of the ruling party. However, no lessons were learnt. After the Adani Group was charged by SEC in the US, the BJP alleged that the US State Department was behind targeted attacks on PM Modi, the ruling party, and attempts to ‘destabilise India.’ Sadly, we are unable to counter the realpolitik practiced by the West, particularly the USA, which has always been an unreliable ally, failing to provide material support to us when we were attacked; by Pakistan in 1965 and 1999 and by China in 1962 and 2020. During the Indo-Pak war of 1971, the US actively supported Pakistan. Shorn of rhetoric, the main interest of the US Government vis-a-vis India is to sell us highly priced, defanged military equipment, and prevent us from buying arms from alternative sources.

More recently, after the MALABAR naval exercises, we had hoped that the US would support Quad (an alliance of US, Japan, India and Australia) militarily and the Quad would evolve as a counterweight to China in the Indo-Pacific region. However, the formation of AUKUS ~ a military alliance between the UK, US and Australia, which is Quad minus Japan and India ~ has preempted this possibility. According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, AUKUS is a military alliance while the Quad was created for trade and commerce, which is perfidy at its worst, because AUKUS was formed with the immediate aim of snatching a US $60 billion submarine deal from France.

The US does little to conceal its deceitful foreign policy. American officials generally visit India and Pakistan together; while in India, they vilify Pakistan unreservedly, but change their tune once they reach Islamabad. Even PM Modi’s personal friend, President Trump, right after his historic reception in Ahmedabad, in February 2020, highlighted the “very good” US relationship with Pakistan and preached to us about the importance of unity among India’s various religions. Despite sweet words, the Biden administration has proved no better, but Trump 2.0 may be worse, having threatened India with high tariffs, even before assuming the Presidency.

Our foreign policy in earlier days had its shortcomings; we carried forward old British policies which were singularly unsuited to our limited military and economic capabilities; we lost no chance to cock a snook at the US, whose largesse kept us afloat. But, at all times our policies were consistent and had significant moral underpinnings. A recently formulated muscular foreign policy, ignoring our limitations, has cost us a lot of international goodwill. As a result of the murder of a Khalistani activist, allegedly at the behest of the Indian Government, relations with Canada, home to a large number of ethnic Indians, and a favourite destination of job-seekers and students, are at rock bottom. Significantly, some Indian officials have been charged in the US with a similar crime. Be that as it may, during the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, some blustering Indian politicians all but admitted to the Government’s involvement. At another time, the Government took offence to some provocative statements, from Malaysia and Turkey, to downgrade trade relations with them. However, showing a lack of consistency, similar outrage was missing when China occupied our territory in Ladakh.

Harping on a mythical past, most Indian politicians have a marked tendency to talk down to foreigners. Additionally, Indian politicians see all foreign investors and businessmen as supplicants, or worse still, as cash cows, ignoring the fact that business and politics are closely aligned in the West, where Governments are committed to promote and protect their businesses abroad. On a visit to India in January 2020, the world’s then richest person, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, announced a US $1 billion investment in India, with a potential of creating 10,000 new jobs. Leave aside expressing gratitude, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal lambasted Amazon, saying that Amazon was not doing a favour to India by its investment, and for good measure, accused Amazon of predatory pricing. For the record, Amazon has invested more than US $6.5 billion in its Indian business, which employs more than 1 lakh professionals. Similarly, the former Law and IT Minister got into a number of ugly spats with Facebook and Twitter, that only ended with his ouster from the Union Cabinet. Since India does not find a place in the US coterie, we have to devise an alternative strategy to counter China.

A neighbourhood first policy would definitely help; we may start by providing food and other aid to countries like Sri Lanka, Nepal and even Pakistan, which are facing economic headwinds and grave food shortages. We can restore friendly relations with our neighbours, at no extra cost, by toning down our rhetoric and not letting domestic compulsions affect foreign relations. In fact, cultivating a working relationship with archenemy Pakistan, even at some cost to ourselves, would considerably lessen the threat from China. Our earlier idealistic foreign policy was based on the principles of truth, non-violence and Panchsheel, which we could not sustain, in face of the realpolitik practised by the other countries. Gravitating between transactional and moral extremes, we have not been able to evolve a stable foreign policy. That said, a well thought out, balanced foreign policy is essential for us; US President John F. Kennedy hit the nail on the head when he said: “Domestic policy can only defeat us; foreign policy can kill us.”

(The writer is a retired Principal Chief Commissioner of Income-Tax)