The Biden Administration and the future of US-India Relations - Report.

The Biden Administration and the Future of the US-India Relations

with Vandana Bhatia

The Political Science Association, Wilson College, Mumbai 

An Interactive Lecture on the Motif of Internationalism Report.

“In international relations, in foreign policy, a great deal has to do with historical circumstances, a great deal has to do with the sense and perception of people”.

Lecture: The Biden Administration and the Future of the US-India Relations

Speaker: Vandana Bhatia- Consulting editor (Indian Foreign Policy) from The Kootneeti

Date: 14 March 2021

Time: 7.00-8.30 pm

The theory behind international relations studies stems from political science and the way international systems operate, investigating the relationships between countries and foreign policies. 

Though the concept may seem foreign, every member of society, is involved in international relations. Ergo, The Resource person, Vandana Bhatia, who herself is a very perspicacious person and possesses sagacious and resplendent erudition pertaining to International Relations and Comparative Politics, was invited by our Association to disseminate some information on “ The Biden Administration & the future of US-India Relations” to us by Vandana Bhatia initiated the session by providing thorough background of US and India's relations in the past and how two estranged Democratic States metamorphosed into Strategic Partners. 

▪ The era of Missed Opportunities ▪

India and the US did not have cordial relations for several decennaries. After the independence of India, in the initial years, the US was the largest aid donor to India and also collaborated with India on the Green Revolution which helped. India overcame famines in the 1960s decade and helped during the Sino-India War of 1962. But during the era of the Cold War, India and US relations were detrimentally influenced, as India was an adherent of the Non-alignment movement and the US even supported Pakistan by stationing a nuclear submarine in the Indian Ocean in the India-Pakistan War of 1971, while India received support from Soviet. Consequently, the Cold War era turned out to be an impediment among the US and India's interrelation & failed to develop a strategic partnership due to a lack of common understanding. There was misalignment among these two nations to the extent that Dennis Kux, a Scholar traced it as “Estranged Democracies”, that is his book‟s title.

▪ NUCLEAR DIVERGENCE ▪

In 1954, Prime Minister Nehru called for a ban on nuclear tests. India opposed nuclear proliferation but the US wanted to safeguard their nuclear weapons capabilities and ensure that nuclear weapons do not spread due to the incessant cold war circumstances and was concerned about the emergence of new nuclear weapons. This nuclear disjuncture is defined as Horizontal versus Vertical proliferation; India was against both proliferation, whereas the US intended to limit the numbers of countries that can develop nuclear weapons.

▪ NUCLEAR STALEMATE ▪

In 1968, the NPT (Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons) was signed but India refused to sign it. In 1974 a „ Peaceful Nuclear Test was conducted by India, this led to set up of Nuclear Non-proliferation regimes like MTCR (Missile Technology Control Regime) and Nuclear Suppliers group, to ensure that India does not get any sort of nuclear tech from any of the countries which have signed the NPT.

▪ CLINTON ADMINISTRATION ▪

During the Clinton Administration, the main focus was on Non-proliferation. In interest for the nuclear weapon countries and broader interest of Nuclear Non-proliferation, the NPT was indefinitely extended and Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) was also on the agenda of the Clinton Administration. They were emphasizing the policy of “Cap, Rollback and Eliminate”. In 1998, India conducted Pokhran ll Explosions Tests. It was initially taken as an infringement of the nuclear non-proliferation regime and an open challenge. This proved to be the catalyst of seeking the attention of the US and launching of US-India‟s Talbott-Singh Dialogue {Strobe Talbott- Jaswant Singh} which led to an upward swing. It ensued to the eradication of sanctions imposed on India since 'The First Peaceful Nuclear Test' was conducted and terminated the Isolation. India was able to make the US understand their perspective and threats of nuclear proliferation in South Asia.

▪ BUSH ADMINISTRATION ▪

Post-2001, Substantial change and shift aroused after the 9/11 attacks, as Bush Administration realised in spite of the fact that India was a De facto Nuclear Weapon State, but it has decisively adhered to the non-proliferation objectives and plays a significant role in tackling nuclear terrorism and trafficking, as 'a Responsible State'. For this purpose, they launched HTCG ( High Technology Cooperation Group) and NSSP (Next Steps in Strategic Partnership). This induced to “US-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement” in the year 2008 but this agreement led to criticism of the US and Bush Administration for overturning the non-proliferation regime and allotting nuclear tech to India just because India was as well a democratic country. In the speaker‟s book; “US-India Nuclear Agreement: Accommodating the Anomaly”, she vehemently advocated the fact that this agreement of accommodating India was a very incremental and progressive approach with some certain restraining conditions.

▪ OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP ▪

Obama Administration took this Strategic Partnership further ahead and it launched India and the US to undertake joint military exercises, foreign direct investment in India, Indo-US policing conference, etc. It intrinsically boosted the US & India's relations as Strategic Partners ecstatically compared to the previous decades and other Administrations. Obama stepped even forward in the progress of India-US relations by fighting together against terrorism by setting up the 'Counter-terrorism Joint Working Group'. They have made great efforts to make India join The MTCR {Missile Technology Control Regime} and supported the entry into NSG {Nuclear Suppliers Group}. While during the Trump Administration no serious and major signs of progress were observed in relations of these two countries except for a massive hype in foreign policy and trade. Trump Administration witnessed and realised the significance and strength of Indian American Diaspora, amidst the 'Howdy Modi' event, in September 2019. But several impositions were made on the Indian diaspora by this administration, such as levying a ban on H-1B Visas. So far, this is how the relations betwixt US and India have been evolved and paved the way over all these years for this current partnership.

▪ BIDEN AND INDIA ▪

US-India Civil Nuclear Deal reflected to Iran that any treaty can be built on the basis of 'Reciprocal Obligations', and with this experience, Biden started focusing on building a similar sort of nuclear deal with Iran, and they were successful. He has defined the US-India partnership as "Defining Relationship of 21st Century" and has always supported the Indian diaspora community and focused on Indo-Pacific (prior known as Asia-Pacific). While analysing Political Science, the personality factor of significant individuals are also reflected and Joe Biden has strength of character and terrific diplomatic skills. In 1972, at the young age of 29, he was elected as one of the youngest senators. During the presidential election of 2016, Biden was interested to stand for it but he lost his son and Obama also supported Hillary Clinton. But he won the election in 2020 by taking on Trump as President.

▪ FUTURE AHEAD ▪

Indo-Pacific is gaining attention which is to counter China, and India plays a significant role in this. The pandemic of Covid-19 and Climate Change has been proved as a treacherous and menacing situation for global health security and special attention would be devoted to counter them by both the countries. D-10, i.e.Democracy Ten, is a new concept that is gaining ground amongst US policymakers. It brings the democratic nations together and it can create more opportunities to engage the US and India and India to play a fundamental and substantial role.

Kurt Campbell, the first-ever person who has been appointed as Indo-Pacific Co-ordinator ever and he has drawn the attention of the US on Indo-Pacific regions. Recently, on 12 March 2021, the QUAD summit meeting was held, as India also has emerged as a Vaccine Diplomacy. QUAD Countries: US, India, Japan and Australia agreed to provide COVID-19 Vaccine doses in south-east Asia and counter China.

Lloyd Austin, US Secretary of Defence, the First African-American to the Pentagon (the US Defence Dept.) will be playing an important role in making the Indo-Pacific region free, open and inclusive. He's visiting India from 19 to 21 March to hold a discussion with Rajnath pertaining to bilateral defence co-operation as well as Global and Mutual interests. In his Senate Confirmation Hearing, his remarks were that “The US needs to press Pakistan to prevent its territory from being used as a Sanctuary for militants and violent organisations” and also to curb coercive behaviour of China in the region. India will as well play a momentous and eminent role and this will enhance US-India relationships.

▪ INDIAN-AMERICA DIASPORA ▪

Kamala Devi Harris, the 49th Vice-President of the United States of America, is the very first female Vice-President of the US and first African-American and Asian-American origin Vice-president. Joe Biden intended to have an inclusive administration and not to side-line minorities. Biden acknowledges the Indian strength as Indian-American diaspora plays crucial roles in America in several fields, for instance, other than Kamala Harris, Vinay Reddy- Director of Speech-Writing, Aisha Shah-Partnership Manager, White House Digital Security, Vidur Sharma- Policy Advisor for testing COVID-19 response, etc. Biden named 20 Indian Americans including 13 women to key positions in his administrative unit. Indian diaspora has formed as 'Knowledge Community', such as IT Engineers, Doctors and Healthcare workers, etc. Mainly Doctors, as per research 1 out of 7 doctors are of Indian-Asian origin. Joe Biden is reversing Trump‟s decision on the H-1B Visas and even on Green Card that restrained Indian Americans to become American citizens for years. These are turning out as a positive point in respect to the relations of the US and India. US-India can work together to curb the problems of Climate Change, Decarbonisation strategy, Counter-Terrorism and drug trafficking, nuclear proliferation, repressing Covid-19, etc. as the main prominent agenda as Strategic Partners. So this is how these two substantial democracies evolved from estranged countries for many decades to strong international strategic Partners. The Diaspora also helps in countering the anti-India narrative that goes on in the West.

Report drafted by Priyanka Mishra, SYBA.