India-US bonhomie

THERE were two elephants in the room when PM Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden met multiple times last week in Washington. There were veiled references to China, while Russia was barely mentioned. India might not have welcomed the warmer-than-normal bonhomie if the sole intention behind the US rolling out the red carpet was to wean India off its military dependence on Russia. India also needs to match China’s recent advancements in new-age technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and 6G, which Beijing is quickly applying to defence systems.

The flurry of interactions between top-level interlocutors of both countries over the past couple of years has helped in deepening cooperation beyond merely spurring India to confidently square up to China if a military confrontation involving the deployment of cutting-edge technologies were to erupt in the coming years. The incidents in Doklam (2017) and Galwan (2020) have led India to remain keen on contributing to the US-led initiative in the Indo-Pacific region in order to counter Chinese activities.

As the 2,600-word Fact Sheet issued by the White House and PM Modi’s interactions in New York and Washington with CEOs of American high-technology behemoths testify, the growing alliance is not only about military technology but also about shifting supply chains away from China. The Biden administration’s National Security Strategy stated in 2022 that China is the ‘only competitor with both the intent and, increasingly, the capability to reshape the international order’. The US has now concluded that India, besides its long-standing partners Japan, South Korea and Australia, fits the bill for increased attention in this regard.