Clearly a path-breaking visit, PM Modi left on June 20 for a five day State visit, his 1st State visit to the USA, symbolising the maturing of a valued strategic partnership between the world’s largest and the world’s oldest democracies. He landed at the Andrews Air Force Base in Washington on June 21.
Before his departure, Prime Minister said the special invitation by US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden was a “reflection of the vigour and vitality of the partnership between our democracies.”
The visit has been meticulously prepared in advance, with the visits to India in quick succession of US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
In New York, after meeting top Indian American CEOs, PM led the celebration marking the International Yoga Day at the UN headquarters on June21st.His participation at World Yoga Day is particularly significant. The United Nations General Assembly in September 2015 responded positively to PM Modi’s suggestion that June21stbe commemorated annually and globally as ‘International Yoga Day’. PM Modi recommended June 21stsince it marks the longest day in the northern hemisphere. Many believe that it marks the day that Shiva began imparting yoga to his followers and became its 1st ‘Guru’. Adopted in December 2015 in New York, the draft resolution had a record breaking 177 co-sponsors including USA and China.
This strategic reorientation of India’s soft power by PM Modi enhanced its international impact. Culture and soft power remain powerful mechanisms to enable antagonistic States to overcome years of mutual mistrust and push forward the process of regional integration in a strategic context, its five pillars are ‘Samman’ (dignity), ‘Samvaad’ (dialogue), ‘Samriddhi’ (shared prosperity), ‘Suruksha’ (regional and global security), and ‘SanskritievamSabhayata’ (cultural and civilisational links). India’s political values have now been embedded in a larger geopolitical context.PM Modi’s message is clear. India can become ‘Viswaguru’ or world teacher.
After completing this important commemoration, he left for Washington where the President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden hosted a private dinner, a day before the State dinner. This indeed is an unprecedented gesture and a rare courtesy extended by the US President.
PM Modi has also accepted the invitation by U.S. Congressional Members to address a joint sitting of the Senate and House of Representatives. This would be his second address to such a joint sitting, joining the distinguished company of Churchill and Mandela. Coming after the recognition, cutting across party lines of both houses accepting the McMahan line as the recognised boundary between India and China, it demonstrates bi-partisan support to the strategic partnership.
Although eyebrows were raised by Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s recent and quick visit to Beijing, the visit was a dampener with Chinese President Xi Jinping refusing to re-establish military to military communications. This will allow a better understanding in Washington of India’s value as a stable and reliable partner.
The takeaways are expected to focus on defence and transfer of technology. Defence Secretary Austin had already referred to a ‘roadmap of defence-industrial co-operation’ covering technology in air combat, armoured vehicles, munitions and ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance). Among the most attractive possible deal would be a licence for India to manufacture General Electric’s GE-F414 jet engine. This would be produced at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and would be used to power indigenous combat aircraft, including Tejas Mk2 and possibly ore advanced medium combat aircraft.
It would be a game-changer for India’s defence production capabilities. The only countries currently capable of producing their own jet engines are the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom and France.
This is indeed a roadmap of a very promising and mutually enriching defence partnership with much more to come. The two sides may sign an agreement on a five-year-old deal to buy MQ-9B Predator armed drones from General Atomics. India had earlier leased 2 in 2020 at the height of Chinese aggressive tactics on the LOAC and attempted ‘salami slicing’ of Indian territory.
The sale of armed drones to India had been approved by the Trump Administration in early 2018, marking the first time such approval had been granted to a non-NATO partner. The MQ-9Bs will sharpen India’s defences against China by allowing it to monitor Chinese troop movements and by improving its naval surveillance capabilities to track Chinese maritime activities in the Indian Ocean and the Indo Pacific.
The Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) which was launched in 2022 will be taken further in this visit. In January 23, the Indian and US National Security Advisors held the inaugural session of the dialogue in Washington, where they announced initiatives to expand cooperation on strategic technologies and defence industrial production. They committed to new partnerships and cooperation in AI, quantum computing, and advanced wireless communications—including deployment and adoption of ‘Open RAN’ in India—and to connect defence start-up companies to catalyse defence innovation. Washington further committed to lowering barriers for U.S. exports to India of High Performance Computing technology and source code.
These are far reaching developments with huge strategic implications for the future. Collaboration on defence innovation and co-production will bolster both countries’ ability to compete effectively with China and contribute to deterrence in the region. The US calculation is that investment in India’s defence sector and agreement to co-develop and co-produce advanced defence technology will enable India to move away from over dependence on Russian arms and reduce the asymmetrical military balance between India and China in the event of a conflict.
The Economist, normally critical of India’s rise, devoted a whole section in this week’s edition to the visit. Its lead editorial said it all announcing ‘America’s new best friend’. It acknowledged that it was an alignment of interests and not principles and concluded: “To work, the relationship will have to function like a long-term business partnership: India and America may not like everything about it, but think of the huge upside. It may be the most important transaction of the 21st century”.
One could cite Victor Hugo who had said:
“You can resist an invading army, But you cannot resist an idea whose time has come.”
The India-US partnership has come of age. US does understand and appreciate the need to provide support to India in its lonely vigil of check-mating China. American strategic needs and perspectives correspond with India.
India’s time has come and so has the India US partnership.
