Foreign Policy With An Indian Twist

Visiting Japan to seek support for India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group, Shyam Saran, former Indian foreign secretary and the prime minister’s special envoy, faced Tokyo’s habitual resistance. Foreign Minister Taro Aso solemnly read out the ministry’s brief on its opposition, but on the short walk to the elevator later, he asked Saran to take home a message from his prime minister: “Japan may have to ‘make a lot of noise’ at the NSG, but would not oppose a consensus in favor of India,” he said. As it turned out, India did overcome all the obstacles.

Saran’s erudite book — part memoir, part history, part a discourse on the origin and development of India’s search for strategic autonomy — is full of such telling anecdotes. What makes the book a pageturner is Saran’s engaging style and the depth of knowledge and personal experience he brings. Especially engaging are the chapters on the Indiachina boundary negotiations, the India-us talks on a nuclear deal and the climate negotiations — to all of which he brings an insider’s perspective. For instance, he shows how a smart maneuver by US President Barack Obama earned him a public relations victory as the savior of the climate pact, while in reality the US contributed nothing. Saran’s book is a must-read for anyone wishing to understand the foreign policy of this vast and ancient country.

Part memoir, part history, part a discourse on India’s search for strategic autonomy.