Where will great power game take India?
- By Fu Xiaoqiang
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E-mail China.org.cn, July 20, 2017
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Taj Mahal in India [Xinhua] |
Recently, India has made a string of strategic moves to build up a Great Power status. In quick succession, it held the India-ASEAN Delhi Dialogue on July 4, rolled out the red carpet for Myanmar military chief Min Aung Hlaing on July 7, and kicked off Exercise Malabar with the U.S. and Japan on July 10.
India leads South Asia in population, land area and scientific and technological development. It has a long-harbored desire to control the region and throw its weight around in the neighborhood. This is manifested by its eastward engagement, which has taken generations of leaders’ efforts to implement. Its moves in the Great Power game during recent years have shaped itself into an overweening country which borrows power from the U.S. to achieve its own benefits.
Pursuing "Neighborhood First" policy and the Indian version of the "Monroe Doctrine"
The Narendra Modi administration established the "Neighborhood First" policy to strengthen "ties" with South Asian neighbors. Out of fear of the influence from major countries outside the region, India tries to prevent its neighbors from forging partnerships with those countries. It uses economic control, political crackdowns and military deterrence to intimidate its neighbors, ignoring their independence and legitimate pursuit of foreign development.
After years of preparation, India launched its regional connectivity scheme as a counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, with a plan to invest US$1.04 billion into the Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (or BBIN) road connectivity projects. The scheme requires that the countries involved must gain approval from India before pursuing connectivity with China. According to a Bengal press outlet, India has decided to investigate China’s direct investment into Bangladesh and other South Asian countries.
Such a neighborhood policy featuring control and manipulation will cause estrangement between India and its neighbors rather than creating a sound external environment.
Upgrading "Look East" to"Act East"
To become a Great Power in South Asia, the Asia-Pacific region and the whole world, India pursues a foreign policy encompassing influence, control and elements of showing-off. In particular, it keeps increasing its influence in Southeast Asia, a region with great geopolitical significance.
On July 4, it held the India-ASEAN Delhi Dialogue, which aims to elevate the multilateral relationship to a "new high." The Indian press claimed that amid an "increasing threat" from China, ASEAN countries expect India to have a leading role in enhancing regional security and connectivity.
It is understandable that India will strengthen its cooperation with ASEAN, as it is a key pivot connecting the Asia-Pacific and South Asia. It will also improve its neighboring security environment. However, it has deviated from this legitimate intention by supposing China to be an enemy and taking its Asia-Pacific strategy as a means to implement America’s "Rebalancing to Asia and the Pacific." It is very likely that India will impose control over ASEAN once it becomes strong enough, as it has done with South Asia.
Borrowing US power to achieve its own benefits
India used to take the Indian Ocean as its sphere of influence and resisted the presence of any major country in the region. But now it fails to maintain its domination of the region with more and more countries getting involved amid fast growing globalization and international trade. As a result, it turns to the strategies of "befriending distant countries and attacking neighboring ones" and "uniting with the U.S. to defend against China."
Exercise Malabar, once a bilateral exercise between India and the U.S. against terrorism and pirates, has become a trilateral combat exercise involving India, U.S. and Japan which openly targets China.
It is justifiable for India, a major country with a 1.3 billion population, to pursue an influential role in the world. However, a Great Power game which features hostility towards neighbors and a reliance on the U.S. at the expense of strategic independence will take the South Asian country nowhere.
The author is a researcher at China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.
The article was translated by Zhang Liying. Its original version was published in Chinese.
Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
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