Advertisement
Opinion | Is the Aukus alliance a sign of a US pivot away from India?
- India’s difficulties at home and strategic hedging abroad threaten to engender a trust deficit as Washington searches for reliable allies
- If Delhi wants to increase its relevance in the region and avoid being overshadowed within the US-led security sphere, it must first fix its domestic failings
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
33
When the US signed the Aukus agreement with Australia and the UK recently, there were two aggrieved parties in America’s ally network. France has been sulking vocally, having lost a US$66 billion submarine deal with Australia. But the less vociferous of America’s troubled allies is India.
Advertisement
Unlike Japan, which has welcomed the deal, India has been publicly quiet about it. But New Delhi appears to be privately suspicious of the new agreement. A few days after the deal was concluded, India’s foreign ministry said Aukus was not “relevant” to the Quad partnership, which features India, Japan, Australia and the US.
Then, shortly before he departed for a Quad summit in Washington, Prime Minister Narendra Modi rang French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss the Indo-Pacific. Modi appeared to express solidarity over Aukus.
India does have reason to be suspicious of Aukus. In the aftermath of the border clashes with China last year, many Indian analysts have become increasingly hawkish. They see this boost to Australia as a welcome development to the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region, yet Aukus could also indicate a pivot away from India in US policy.
For years, the US has been hopeful of India’s rise as a democratic counterweight to China. India’s large size, youthful demographics and geographic location all make it integral to any US-led democratic coalition against China in the Asia-Pacific. Yet, on many levels, India’s potential has flattered to deceive so far.
02:34
India reaches vaccination milestone as Covid-19 fight picks up pace in rural areas
India reaches vaccination milestone as Covid-19 fight picks up pace in rural areas
The nationwide lockdown last year and the devastating second wave of Covid-19 this year have left a lasting impact on India’s economy. While growth had already slowed considerably before the pandemic, it has only got worse.
Advertisement