Can India Be the U.S. Pivot in Asia?

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has just concluded an extended visit to India, an important milestone in the growing collaboration between Washington and New Delhi. In June 2010, the two capitals launched the India-US Strategic Dialogue and Clinton had come to New Delhi for its second round. In between, President Barack Obama visited India in November 2010. The present dialogue will be noted for the explicitness with which the commonality of interests has been asserted in a ‘global partnership'. In recent times, India and the US have established a Central Asia, a West Asia, a UN, an East Asia dialogue and planned a trilateral Indo-US-Japan dialogue. It is a far cry from the day Obama landed in Beijing and upset India by asking the Chinese to co-manage the world with Washington. This time, in Chennai, Clinton pointedly asked India to lead Asia.