18-09-18 01:06:00,
It’s unlikely that anyone today may still have doubts about the fact that India in recent years has been playing a pivotal role in Washington’s strategic plans for the Asia-Pacific region. Former American presidents, namely Bill Clinton, George Bush and Barack Obama would all visit India to underline the growing importance of New Delhi for the United States, while the latter of them has boldly described India as one of the principal allies of the United States in the 21st century.
The Indian economy that has been riding the tide of booming IT businesses enjoys such advantages as cheap labor, high number of English speakers among the native population along with a rapidly emerging middle class that has this sort of sympathy towards the US comparable to the one that could be observed in China in late 80s. In turn, Western think tanks seem to be tempted by the opportunities granted by Washington’s capabilities to enter the Indian nuclear market, while carry on shipments of billions of dollars worth of arms to India. New Delhi’s support can also provide Washington with a number of political points to support the steps it makes in the Middle East, Central Asia and South-East Asia.
There’s no arguing that due to the layout of the rapidly emerging new world order, New Delhi will compelled to play a role of the natural counterweight to China, which makes it particularly attractive for Western political elites, along with the fact that New Delhi has been limiting the number of options that Islamabad has in pursuing its regional goals. In turn, Washington’s further rapprochement with New Delhi grants the former an opportunity to establish control over its development in a bid to prevent India’s emergence as a direct competitor of the Unites States. It goes without saying that should Beijing draw India to its side, the consequences would be absolutely catastrophic for the US hegemony.
It’s curious that Washington’s desire to establish closer ties with India has been receiving a lot of lip support from New Delhi’s political elites, since the generally anti-Western rhetorics that dominated Indian political life all through the Cold War became increasingly muted in the 90s. So it’s no wonder that establishing closer ties with the West, that is being dominated by the United States has recently become one of the top priorities of Indian foreign policy.