India-U.S.¡®2+2¡¯ Dialogue: Towards A Partnership For All Seasons

The just concluded 5th ¡®2+2¡¯ dialogue between the Foreign and Defence ministries of India and the United States while reflecting the current upheavals in many geopolitical hotspots like in West Asia also shows the robust base on which the India-U.S. partnership is grounded.

While the geopolitical challenge of managing China¡¯s aggression has provided the ballast to India-U.S. strategic convergence and cooperation, just a cursory of the many joint statements between the two countries, including the one released after the ¡®2+2¡¯ dialogue displays a much comprehensive future of the relationship.

AFP

While acknowledging the need for coordinated responses to security turmoil across the world, New Delhi and Washington also highlights the upward graph in every aspect of bilateral and multilateral engagement, and a willingness to address irritants wherever they exist.

A Concrete Foundation of Convergence

The India-U.S. partnership is undoubtedly one of the most consequential in the Indo-Pacific, and one that attracts major attention in China¡¯s policymaking class and the strategic community.

In several commentaries carried by the Global Times, many of China¡¯s elite analysts have called out the India-U.S. partnership as unsustainable, with full of differences. However, the trajectory of the India-U.S. bonhomie confirms just the opposite, with engagements now going truly comprehensive, beyond the fundamental cooperation in military interoperability and greater defence cooperation.

AFP

The bilateral understanding that has grown exponentially over the last two decades now includes a host of issues that are non-military and focussed on growth and prosperity informed by the imperatives of a green economy.

As the ¡®2+2¡¯ joint statement noted, ¡°The Ministers noted the substantial progress in transforming U.S.-India relations across domains, based on trust and mutual understanding.¡± Nevertheless, given China¡¯s growing power projection in the Indo-Pacific across both continental and maritime realms, the major defence partnership remains the bedrock setting habits of cooperation at the highest levels.

The move to go beyond buying and selling of defence equipment to that of co-development and co-production has started to ¡®walk the talk¡¯. Initiatives under the bilateral defence industrial cooperation and collaboration in areas such as outer space and artificial intelligence show the intent on both sides to jointly leverage potential, and create synergies unlike anything seen before. Expanding the involvement of private sector entrepreneurial spirit, will prove a new fillip into the burgeoning defence industrial ecosystem between the two countries.

Indo-Pacific Commitments amidst Diplomatic Hazards

The United States withdrew from the Afghanistan war, with the intent to direct more resources and attention to the primary and strategic challenge posed by China in the Indo-Pacific. However, the continuing war in Ukraine and the raging inferno in West Asia have led to growing concerns relating to America¡¯s ability to continue providing military and diplomatic resources across the Indo-Pacific.

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Therefore, prioritizing areas of concern and focussing concerted efforts, despite differences over optics and alliance obligations remain major areas of bilateral deliberation between India and the United States, such as seen in the case of the India-Canada diplomatic tension. India¡¯s bilateral embrace with the United States feeds into their multilateral dynamics, and vice versa. Beyond bolstering effective multilateralism in larger groups like the G20, the two democracies are engaged in a number of other multilateral groupings and causes covering multiple domains of regional as well as global governance.

Some of its bilateral engagements such as the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) will be consequential in building consensus on the next stage of managing technology value chain. The strides that the two countries are making individually as well jointly in exploration of outer space for civilian uses carries immense potential for the benefit of other recipient countries.

Moreover, areas like global health security and climate change mitigation remain top priority for the bilateral cooperation. Another critical area of collaboration between India and the United States with consequence for a ¡®free, open and inclusive¡¯ Indo-Pacific is to provide alternatives to China¡¯s infamous Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in connectivity projects and financing standards. India and the U.S. needs to pay attention to the development gap in Indo-Pacific, and along with like-minded partners, envision and implement the projects for regional access to quality infrastructure.

Amidst the uncertain security environment across the world and the challenges posed by China¡¯s rise, India and the United States needs to find joint purpose in building a multipolar Indo-Pacific with effective multilateralism.

A strong India-U.S. bilateral partnership beside the bilateral focus has a larger agenda to cooperate for greater good, in all domains, of global peace and security. Political convulsions and diplomatic hazards will be a common feature for the two democracies to navigate, without losing sight of the strategic rationale of India-U.S. partnership, which can truly become global in scope and weather strong geopolitical storms.