Obama's wooing of India not that seductive

• Source: Global Times
• [08:54 November 17 2010]
• Comments

Obama's criticism of India's policy of non-interference in Myanmar has not earned him any applause either in India or in the wider region. Unlike the US, which believes in regime change to further its strategic interests, India follows a policy of non-interference in the affairs of other countries. In briefings after the visit, officials of the Ministry of External Affairs made it clear that India did not need lectures on democracy and human rights from any other country.

Besides economic cooperation, India has strong and long-standing cultural ties with Iran. The Government of India's official spokesman reiterated that while the UN sanctions would be adhered to, Washington cannot expect India to fall in line with unilateral US sanctions against Iran.

With the US being rebuffed, and so conspicuously, on Myanmar and Iran, it is clear that the two countries hardly see eye to eye on every issue. On Myanmar and Iran, there is no conflict of interest between China, India and other countries in the region. 

Assumptions of convergence between India and the US have gone awry also in other areas, especially international financial reform. Based on the feel-good factor created by Obama's visit, it was expected that India would bat for the US, and against China on the issue of currency valuation, at the G20 summit in Seoul. This did not happen. On the contrary, China, India and Germany resisted US moves to dictate the terms of the G20's final communiqué.

These developments form a significant backdrop to the series of India-China engagements scheduled in the weeks ahead. From the Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral meeting of Foreign Ministers at Wuhan on November 14-15 to Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to India on December 16-17, there are interactions slated at other levels, too.

These meetings, between the Foreign Ministers, the India Foreign Secretary and her counterpart and the Special Representatives for the Boundary Talks, can be utilized to clear the air and eliminate the irritants that have surfaced lately between China and India.

The author is a journalist from India. forum@globaltimes.com.cn