Obama's Empty India Overtures

The long-awaited visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to India provided the usual public affirmation of “India being a vital partner of the US in building a stable international order.” But there was no mistaking that the thrill is gone. The cooling of the strategic partnership built by the Bush administration, which conferred on India de facto nuclear weapon state status, introduces new uncertainties in Asia. With the balance of power in Asia shifting amid talk of a G-2 between the economically hobbled US and the rising giant China, a loosening of the Indo-US bond could produce unpredictable consequences far beyond the Indian Ocean.

Of course, the Indo-US relationship losing some of its Bush-era sheen does not underestimate the value of the relationship to both sides. Economic and defence ties are on an upswing with the US and India finalising the End User Verification Agreement that will allow US companies to sell sophisticated arms to India. Bilateral trade is growing. And India will be an even bigger source of migration to the US in the coming decades. The Indian community in America is becoming ever more effective in leveraging their influence towards promoting bilateral ties.

But Washington and Delhi’s malaise was not dispelled by Clinton’s sweet words. The growing uneasiness is as much the result of administration change in Washington as it is of the economic crisis affecting the US. George W Bush, deeply suspicious of communist China, was personally keen on building strong ties with India. Hence, he was willing to sacrifice long-held US non-proliferation concerns to embrace nuclear India and acknowledge it as the primary actor in South Asia, de-hyphenated from Pakistan.