By Dr Subhash Kapila
“Worried over United States new defence focus on Asia, New Delhi today told Washington to re-calibrate its strategy, as India fears that it would lead to increased militarisation of its neighbourhood” -- The Tribune, June 7 2012 reporting on discussions in New Delhi between US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta and Indian Defence Minister A K Antony.
Introductory Observations
The above Indian official Indian response during US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta’s visit to New Delhi is strategically pathetic coming from a nation which claims to be the predominant power on the Indian Sub-Continent and pretensions to be a global power.
It is symptomatic of the political diffidence that has plagued India’s national security management and foreign policy management in the last six decades leading to India’s un- remitting strategic diminution in global perceptions.
Indian political leaders and policy establishment must not forget that the United States strategically invested in India’s potential to be a global power and not on its present true worth. India is not a global power as yet as in the last eight years it has shirked as a so-called regional power from shouldering security responsibilities in ordering its neighbourhood and slinks away from acquiring security responsibilities wider afield which others are willing to concede to it
India has not credibly proved to date that it has prepared itself to be a global power and its political leaders have the mental grit and strategic audacity to do justice to that stature. Presently ‘India as a global power’ is only a ‘strategic halo’ bestowed by the United States on India.
Objectively, India should have read what has flowed from Washington in recent times as the United States compulsions to “outsource regional security” to India in a strategic partnership and not as a military ally.
India should have grabbed the opportunity but all that we are left with is political diffidence arising from a morbid fear that any such action would annoy China. This is strategically demeaning. Indian political leaders can only shed their ‘China Fears’ either when they make India militarily strong substantially or in the interim till those capabilities are achieved mark time with the United States in a strategic partnership.
The appropriate response to Panetta’s visit, in keeping with India’s power-pretensions would have been that “India assured the United States that India values Asian stability and Indian Ocean stability and that India in partnership with all like-minded nations would work towards ensuring that end”.
India has never called upon China to re-calibrate its strategy and restrain its fast track military expansion as such militarisation would destabilise the Asian security environment. Why pick on the United States when all that it is doing is to re-balance its strategic postures in Asia Pacific. After all the United States has been the predominant power in this vast expanse since 1945 and has a well-knit and well spread out security architecture in the Asia Pacific. All that the US is doing is to rebalance it.
When was the last time an Indian Defence Minister forthrightly asserted that The China Threat was real? I think it was George Fernandez as Defence Minister in the NDA time.
The Indian policy establishment is being hypocritical when it labels United States strategic pivot to Asia as adding to India’s fears while remaining utterly silent on The China Threat
India has progressively diminished strategically in the last eight years and this arises from a strong mix of lack of strategic vision at the apex level, a myopic national security establishment and India’s foreign policy managers looking for soft options in consonance with the thinking of the political leadership.
Political diffidence has stymied India’s war preparedness to meet the onslaughts arising from the pronounced threats from China and Pakistan more jointly now than ever before.
The Indian Armed Forces have the confidence to meet the threats from China and Pakistan with whatever means the political leadership has tardily placed at their disposal. Contrastingly, India’s political leadership is diffident in facing upto the new challenges emerging in the Asia Pacific.
Strangely, when relatively less powerful countries like Vietnam, Myanmar and Bangladesh are recasting their strategic alignments and outlook in view of China’s aggressive policies and postures, India is still in strategic awe of China. India is in a state of denial on The China Threat to India and the Asia Pacific Region.
Without further ado this Paper would like to reflect on the following related issues to India’s strategic diminishment arising from political diffidence:
- India Misreads United States Strategic Pivot to Asia
- United States Calls on India Focus on Strategic Partnership & NOT a Military Alliance
- Can India Single Handed Control the Indian Sub-Continent, Indian Ocean and its Immediate Periphery?
- India’s Political Diffidence & Strategic Diminution: The Major Contributory Factors.
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