Context

• There is a new momentum in India’s foreign policy, a clinical sharpness to its external policy design, articulation and implementation.

A conciliatory policy

• India’s neighbourhood policy today is an act in careful, well-calibrated and well thought-out policy overtures towards most of the region, with a deep desire to win back the neighbours.
• During 2014-19, relations with Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka (as well as the attitude towards the Taliban until they overran Kabul in August 2021), for instance, were complicated due to ideological overtones and aggressive policies.
  • The intervention in Kathmandu’s Constitution-making process and the subsequent (undeclared) blockade of Nepal;
  • irking the Bangladeshis by offensive references;
  • attempting to be the kingmaker in the Sri Lankan elections, among others, seemed to stem from an imperious attitude.
  • Such an ‘either you are with us or against us’ attitude prompted many of India’s neighbours to opt for the latter part of the choice allowing China a free pass, at least to some extent, into India’s traditional sphere of influence.

Yielding Results

• The manner in which the the recent government reached out to the Taliban shedding its past reservations and its outreach to the West Asian/Gulf states are noteworthy.

  

• India’s new Nepal policy devoid of Hindutva fantasies and diplomatic imperiousness, and friendly outreach to both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are already yielding results. 
• If indeed ‘illegal Bangladeshi migrants’ do not become an issue in the upcoming elections in India, the warmth generated by the recent golden jubilee celebrations of Bangladesh’s liberation from Pakistan (with Indian help) could further strengthen the relationship.

Effective multilateralism

• New Delhi’s multilateral engagements have also become more result-driven and interest-based. India is willing to be a responsible stakeholder in global/regional governance forums:
  • India’s membership and presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) witnessed some resolute positions from the country
  • New Delhi’s able framing of the world body’s response to the crisis in Afghanistan (especially when India was holding the presidency of the UNSC) along with an outreach to the Taliban, when much of the world was struggling to make up its mind on how to deal with Taliban 2.0, was remarkable
  • India’s far more determined engagement of the Quad (India, Australia, Japan and the U.S.)
  • Global climate change negotiations in Glasgow
  • Pushing back attempts at securitising climate change at the UNSC

Balancing Contradictions

• Located in an unfriendly neighbourhood and caught amidst the vagaries of great power competition among the United States, Russia and China.
  • The complex balancing act that New Delhi plays between Russia and the United States at a time when India is closer to the U.S. 
  • Buying the S-400 missile system from Russia risking potential sanctions from Washington, and strengthening its participation in the Quad despite strong words from Moscow show an ability to smart-balance systemic contradictions.
  • In the broader West Asian region too, New Delhi’s balancing acts have been remarkable: between Arab States and Israel, Israel and Iran, Iran and the Gulf states, and Iran and the U.S.
  • The arrival of the West Asian Quad consisting of the U.S., India, UAE and Israel is yet another indication of the new-found foreign policy finesse in New Delhi.
  • India’s relations with China too has witnessed a certain amount of careful balancing. Despite the military stand-off on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), bilateral trade has only shot up: India-China trade, for instance, increased by a record 62.7% in the first half of 2021. New Delhi has also been able to engage the China-dominated Shanghai Cooperation Organisation even as it is strengthening its participation in the Quad.

Geoeconomics

• Depressed Indian approach towards FTAs
• In 2019, India decided not to become part of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
  • The only FTA signed by the recent government in the past seven years was with the ASEAN in 2015
• New Delhi is scheduled to begin FTA negotiations with the United Kingdom and Canada in 2022 and may start discussing the possibility of another one with the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
• It may finalise an FTA with the United Arab Emirates in 2022.
• Resume long-suspended negotiations with the European Union for a comprehensive trade and investment treaty.

Way Forward

• If New Delhi aspires to be a system-shaping power, it must have more men and women to carry out its work in the MEA.
• New Delhi appears to have realised that the pursuit of national interest is a serious business and must move beyond the promotion of ideological predilections and personality cults.
• A rebooted Indian foreign policy must find ways of imagining a new regionalism with or without the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and must shed its obsession with Pakistan and terrorism. 
• Pakistan or terrorism pose no existential threats to India nor should New Delhi spend too much diplomatic capital on them. 

Conclusion

• Desire to make India a $5 trillion economy (from the current $3 trillion) by 2024-25 will remain a fantasy unless it is able to proactively pursue trade agreements, among other things.

Source: TH

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