Leap of faith during Modi visit to US?
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, June 17: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join Manmohan Singh (2009) and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1963) for the state visit to the US next week. In the last 75 years, the last two state visits came up at crucial stages when India sought new term of engagement with the US.
The 1962 Chinese invasion of India had set the backdrop of the then President Radhakrishnan’s state visit to the US. The Indo-US nuclear deal for which Singh faced a no-confidence vote in the Lok Sabha, moved by the Left parties, had set the backdrop of his state visit in 2009.
Now, Modi is visiting the US at a time when India-China border tension is over two years old, with violent Galwan skirmish marking a definitive change in the relations of New Delhi with Beijing. While pursuing independent foreign policy aligned to the national interest when Russia is at war with Ukraine and by default with the Nato, India is clearly seeking a qualitative jump in terms of engagement with the western world to accelerate the modernization of the defence forces for which the US along with France and Germany holds critical importance.
High level exchanges, beginning with the national security advisor Ajit Doval and his American counterpart Jake Sullivan jointly launching the ‘Initiative for Critical and Emerging Technology (ICET) in May 2022, saw the visits of US Defence Secretary Llyod Austin and others to New Delhi to firm up details of Modi’s visit to Washington D.C.
“India and the US now have a clear, common geopolitical foe in China, and each understands that the other can help it win its competition against Beijing. For the United States, India is a massive, pivotal power in Asia that sits astride critical maritime routes and shares a long, contested land border with China. For India, the United States is an attractive source of advanced technology, education, and investment,” wrote Daniel Markey, senior advisor in the South Asia programme at the US Institute of Peace, in an article on the Modi visit to the US.
Jeff M. Smith, director of Asian Studies Centre, opined in a column that “India is purchasing roughly 100 U.S.-made F414 jet engines to power its Tejas fighter aircraft and the Biden administration is reviewing a pact to that will allow more of the engines to be produced domestically in India, increasing the technology transfer involved”.
Clearly, the foreign strategic affairs commentators are seeing Modi visit to the US from the prism of a breakthrough in the defence cooperation amid simmering tension on India-China border.
Manoj Joshi, author of the book ‘Understanding the India China Border, also commented in his analysis of the Modi visit that the American technology is incumbent to bridge the gap in the military strength of India with China. “To keep China on a leash, the US is looking at India as a defence and security partner,” commented Joshi.
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