India reluctant to take up responsibilities in creating new global order

By Xie Chao Source:Global Times Published: 2014-3-17 19:33:01

Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

After a period of silence over official assessment of the events in Ukraine, India finally expressed its tepid support for Russia, with its National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon stating that India believes Russia has "legitimate interests" in Ukraine.

But the Indian Ministry of External Affairs papered over Menon's comment, calling for "a legitimate democratic process to find full expression through free and fair elections that provide for an inclusive society."

It is no surprise to find ambiguous or even contradictory official standpoints from the Indian government on major international issues.

In a changing international system, India is expected to play a role as stable regional balancer. But India is doing its job so well that it is becoming a friend of almost all major powers, regardless of their divergent positions on major issues.

This makes India's strategic intentions, if there are any, often at odds with its behavior on international issues.

For instance, India boasts of its pluralist democracy model, but it is unwilling to incorporate this value in its foreign policy, and it's trying to wear the mantle of Asian leadership without offering any new commitment or resources to that end.

Analysts are often frustrated by such contradictions.

Many studies interpret India's recent behavior as strategic restraint, but India's lack of articulation in its national grand strategy design and its restraint from international governance end up confusing real foreign policy objectives.

So while Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang signed an agreement pledging restraint on border issues, frequent quarrels are initiated by the Indian side along the Sino-Indian border.

That's why when we talk of strengthening economic ties between Beijing and New Delhi, the so-called China threat remains a constant excuse for India's military and nuclear arsenal buildup.

What explains such self-contradictions? First, New Delhi rarely engages in long-term thinking about its foreign policy goals.

This makes it difficult to spell out a coherent strategy in global affairs, and sometimes bureaucratic and internal struggles prevail over national interests.

Second, Indian foreign policy makers are insulated from outside influences. India's rigid understanding of strategic autonomy is translated as stubbornness of holding its parochial national interests and neglecting broader interests.

This philosophy is reflected in the various, sometimes contradictive, directions of its foreign policy.

Another recent example would be its endorsement of Japan's Abe administration. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine in December and his subsequent revisionist remarks on WWII history have generated waves of protest and concern from major powers in the world, from its closest allies such as the US, UK and other major European countries. But India's response has been muted.

Indians fought with distinction throughout WWII. Its financial, industrial and military assistance formed a crucial component of the British campaign against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

However, safeguarding the hard-won peace order after WWII does not figure into India's strategic calculus, and in order to accommodate Japanese concerns, India even refuses to express concerns over Japan's right-wing turn.

In the 21st century, few trends have captured the world's attention as much as the spectacular economic and political emergence of powers such as China and India.

Now, India is registered as an important participant of almost all important world strategic issues.

India's reluctant participation in a greater role in the global system is jeopardizing global governance progress and stagnating the creation of international and regional cooperation.

The author is a PhD candidate in the Department of International Relations, Tsinghua University, and currently visiting at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn



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