The Boost in India-US Relations and the China Factor

The ever-evolving India-US relations in post-Cold War world are dynamic in nature and what makes it even more crucial for a political analyst to study – is the China Factor between them. India has evolved itself from being a ‘Strategic Partner’ of the USA to being an ‘Indispensable Partner’, and recently a ‘Major Defence Partner’ of USA.

In recent times India under the leadership of Narendra Modi, India is seeing the heights of India-Us relationship. Few anticipated that he would turn out to be such a champion of strong US-India ties or might be the changing dynamics between and within the three countries – India, China & USA that is resulting in the growth of bilateral relationship between Washington and New Delhi.

The USA, which has a long found dispute with China, an emerging power in the Asian continent, is definitely a market threat. On the other hand India and China facing military standoff and dispute along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) has further soared the bilateral relations between India and China.

To understand how the China Factor within these two countries affected the India-US ties in the present age we will point out the US India Business Council (USIBC) India’s Idea summit where Prime Minister of India delivered a keynote to boost economic ties with the USA and the role of Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) to help foster a greater mutual interest of a Liberal International order together with India.

The India Idea Summit played a vital role in the development of the India-US relations. As the Prime Minister of India, Mr Narendra Modi delivered a keynote which can be summarised as follows. In his keynote, he talked about how rough times amid the Covid scenario all over the world has made India an emerging land of opportunities. The keynote reads that there is a global optimism towards India. Also, listing sectors such as health care sector, agricultural sector, energy sector and defence sector is growing as vital sectors for investment in India. PM referred by calling that India has what it takes to be a global economic recovery. Stated in the keynote, not only there has been a rise in ease of doing business rankings of the World Bank but even during the pandemic, India had attracted foreign investment for more than 20 billion dollars between April & July this year. India is contributing towards a prosperous and resilience world through ‘Self Reliant India’.

In this context to understand the chronology, it is important to note that India’s Idea Summit was held shortly after the India-China border standoff. India’s relationship with China has deteriorated particularly along their disputed land border-Line of Actual Control. Weeks after the crisis, the Indian Government banned 59 Chinese apps & started restricting Chinese trade in Indian Territory in several ways. On the other hand, the USA was seen being extremely critical on China and its ‘role’ in the Covid spread out. Often, President of the United States, Donald Trump was seen been tough on China. A long due trade deal between the US and China is still lost in negotiations. The business summit henceforth might be a way for India to bounce back its economy by looking forward to American Investors. Even PM of India also called India and US as natural partners.

It is not only that India is looking forward to increasing trade relations with US but the US is also determined to improve bilateral ties with India in regards to Quadrilateral Security Dialogues (Quad).

Under the Donald Trump administration, Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) comprised of Australia, India, Japan, and the USA. Quad’s set mechanism is to maintain “free & open” Indo-Pacific region. Since its resurgence, Quad looks forward to maintaining the liberal based International order, which China seeks to overturn. Though Quad has always resisted to openly recognizing China as the primary target. But, definitely, the Quad signals unified resolve among the Quad members to counter China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific Region.

Taking all the points into consideration both Washington and New Delhi view each other as partner that share a common interest. The collision in the competition between the USA and China and tensions between China and India has wide opened doors for India-USA cooperation which can now be strongly witnessed as never before.