India-US ties: Go beyond UNSC seat

Economics and trade have been the key drivers of the transformation in India-US relations that has occurred over the last 20 years.

The big surprise, however, is the evolving security relationship, which was virtually non-existent at the start of the process.

The subject of Indian Ocean security has become one of those areas of converging interest that demands the two countries to engage closely.

The other significant area of success is the US- India nuclear deal, an agreement that saw radical change in US policy and created an opportunity for India. 

It is needless to state that foreign policies of nations are shaped by national interest considerations.

The US is no exception to this rule. The change in US foreign policy towards India has been greatly influenced by the understanding that India would be one of the countries, in the next decade, which will shape not just the South Asian but the entire Asian environment. This perception marks a paradigm shift in context that coloured American perception of India.

It is also a recognition that, for both India and the US, engagement with China is critically important. 

It is an engagement where the two need to be conscious of how they manage the phenomenon of a rising China and the common interest they have in doing so successfully. 

What is striking, however, is that most of the big success stories in India-US relations are primarily bilateral. Engagement in multilateral forums has remained troublesome. The most remarkable example is the trade negotiations under WTO. India and the US went into the Doha round with different visions and quite different objectives.

This was one of the main reasons for the breakdown in negotiations, round after round, for over 10 years. And yet, there seems to be no solution to the deadlock. 

The US is wary of the role India has traditionally played as a champion of Third World countries that have felt bullied by international regulations framed mostly by rich nations. US president Barack Obama’s explicit support to India’s inclusion in an expanded United Nations Permanent Security Council therefore comes as a surprise.

The UN anchors some of the most difficult multilateral agendas between US and India.  The two nations have serious differences on a host of issues, including on profound questions like how to cope with Iran or Myanmar.

On the other hand, the US views India’s support in managing the global order to be crucial in the face of an increasingly aggressive China. There is hence an inkling that America’s support to India’s candidature to the UN Security Council comes with the tacit rider of India aligning its self interest with that of the US.

The recent WikiLeaks revelations of the belief among US officials that, “the clamour for Security Council reforms, including demands by India and other leading economies for permanent seats, is no more than a lot of “sound and fury which is likely to fizzle out because of deep divisions among them”, points to a case where the US is trying to have the cake and eat it too.

Although tempting, India must hence resist from falling for the carrot of a Security Council seat that the US offers. The seat is tied to a decades-long debate on United Nations reform, which does not seem likely to resolve in the near future. Moreover, inefficiencies within the UN itself are becoming conspicuous.

The US and India need to figure out how to manage their disagreements and make the end result something they can live with. In the meantime, they need to strengthen the economic aspect of their relationship. The removal of nine Indian companies from the Entities List recently was a very positive move in this regard by the US.

It would help in the transfer of technology in many critical areas to India. New Delhi should also work on opening up multi-brand retail to FDI, removing FDI caps in the insurance sector, etc. Any movement in these areas is perceived as a sign of India’s interest in expanding economic relationship with the US.

It is also not too early to begin exploring ways to take this relationship to a much higher platform. What would it take to make a free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the US a possibility?