Eliminate further irritants in ties
ment and energy-import policies. This is in keeping with its increasing unilateralism, including dictating terms to allies and friends. Canada, for example, has been warned to accept US’S terms or face exclusion from the new NAFTA.
Japan is buying a $2.1 billion US missiledefence system, not because it can effectively protect it from missile attacks, but because of US pressure to buy more American military hardware. Washington is similarly pressuring New Delhi to buy more American weapons, although the US has already emerged as the largest arms seller to India.
But, while the US basically sells defensive military systems, Russia has armed India with offensive weapons, including a nucle- ar-powered submarine and an aircraft carrier. Washington is also seeking to sell more oil and gas to India, besides pressing it to switch imports from Iran to Saudi Arabia and other US allies. However, next-door Iran, offering discounted pricing, will remain critical to India’s energy- diversification strategy.
Meanwhile, the US — after its success in getting India to accept a logistics assistance pact, which includes access to designated Indian military sites — has pushed for India to endorse the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA), which the Indian armed forces initially feared could compromise their network. India, instead of leveraging its ties with Washington, appears set to announce at least an in-principle agreement on a modified COMCASA during the two-plus-two meeting, if not sign it.
Why is it that, in the run-up to any important summit or high-level meeting, India agrees to make a key concession to the other side? And why is that the other side doesn’t feel similarly pressured to make a concession to India? Isn’t reciprocity the first principle of diplomacy? Before finalising COMCASA, India should clinch some major defence deals with Russia, including for the S-400 system, so as to test the US response. Instead, it is concluding new defence deals with the US.
The US and India will remain close friends. Washington, however, must fully address Indian concerns over the extraterritorial effects of its new sanctions on Iran and Russia. Make no mistake: Washington has introduced a major irritant in the bilateral relationship that the twice-postponed two-plus-two dialogue cannot purge.
Brahma Chellaney is a geostrategist and author The views expressed are personal