India and US: A growing strategic partnership
The two countries now conduct more military exercises with each other than with any other nation. Already, the US has emerged as India’s second largest arms supplier with defence trade touching USD18 billion in 2018
Earlier, in Mao Zedong’s famous phrase, political power grew “out of the barrel of a gun.” Today, that currency of power is nukes and space. That was amply evident as India became the fourth country after the US, Russia and China to crash into the exclusive ‘Hit to Kill’ missile club. But, unlike the past when US administrations across the political divide looked askance at India’s bigpower ambitions, Uncle Sam’s reaction to India blasting one of its own orbiting target satellites with an Anti-Satellite (A-SAT) missile on March 27 was somewhat muted, if not tacitly supportive.
New Delhi may have earned US wrath after India’s nuclear tests in 1998. But a new India was born out of those explosions. And ten years later, it was the US which welcomed India into the nuclear club with the 2008 landmark civil nuclear deal. This time around, there was little official criticism of India’s ‘Mission Shakti’ with the Pentagon even voicing an understanding of New Delhi’s global compulsions at a US Senate panel hearing. While lawmakers seemed more focused on seeking to establish global space norms and protocol that would include New Delhi, US Strategic Command Commander General John E Hyten suggested that India “did that (ASAT test) because they are concerned about threats to their nation from space.”
“And therefore, they feel they have to have a capability to defend themselves in space,” he said, noting India’s concern at being left out of any future global protocol. US State Department simply took “note” of the test as it went on to highlight its “strong strategic partnership” with India it uniquely designated a ‘Major Defence Partner’ in 2016. Military ties are set to grow with the signing of an India-specific Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA).
Usually reserved for only trusted US allies and close partners for exchanging sensitive military information and sale of high technology, it allows India to procure specialized equipment for encrypted communications for US military aircraft like the C-17, C-130 and P-8Is. The two countries now conduct more military exercises with each other than with any other nation. Already, the US has emerged as India’s second largest arms supplier with defence trade touching USD18 billion in 2018. The US is peeved with India’s USD5.4 billion deal for the Russian S-400 Triumf missile defence system. Yet Washington has so far refrained from imposing sanctions on India despite a punitive US legislation -- Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) - “hanging over” it.
Hinting India may get a waiver, Assistant Defence Secretary Randall Schriver told a House panel in March the 2017 law “is not designed to be an impediment in the growing strategic partnership we have with India.” It’s “designed for consequence to Russia” for its alleged interference in the 2016 presidential poll. But the US chose not to exempt New Delhi when it ended on May 1 the presidential waivers that allowed India and seven other countries to continue to import Iranian oil. Again it was largely due to unrelenting US pressure that China lifted its objections on the UN declaring Masood Azhar, head of Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed, a global terrorist in the midst of the Indian parliamentary elections. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called it “an important step towards peace in South Asia.” But the US did no favour to India. It was also designed to keep China on its toes amidst a trade war and negotiating a difficult peace deal in Afghanistan.
Not just defence. Bilateral ties “across the entire spectrum of trade and commerce,” too are “strong, robust and growing,” as officials noted after a trade meeting in New Delhi. Bilateral trade grew from USD126 billion in 2017 to USD142 billion in 2018, a 12.6 per cent rise. To be sure there are several outstanding trade issues with President Donald Trump calling India “tariff king” and accusing it of doing “stupid trade.” However, unlike China, it’s less of a trade war with India and more of a desire to work out issues with “a vital strategic partner (who) plays an increasingly important role in South Asia and the Indo-Pacific region,” as US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross put it at a business forum in New Delhi.
The times are a changing! But instant analysts must beware of the Trump tweet. For the avowedly “America First” president everything is a deal. And who knows what action of India - “...great country, great friend, Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi” he may not find “thrilling”!