MAINS GENERAL STUDIES PAPER 2
• Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests
• Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.
THE FOUNDATION
• US and India have become key partners in seeking to create a free, open and democracy-led Indo-Pacific.
• The critical missing link in this strategy, however, is the South China Sea, which connects the Indian and Pacific oceans.
• US reluctance to impose tangible costs on China’s con tinued expansionism in the South China Sea has emboldened Chinese inroads in the Indian Ocean.
INDIA’S WORRY
• One issue likely to figure prominently in the two-plustwo meeting is how India has emerged as a prime victim of two new sets of US economic sanctions — on Iran and on Russia.
•The new sanctions directly impinge on India, a longstanding significant buyer of Russian weapons and the second-largest importer of Iranian oil after China.
NOTES
For example, the Pentagon’s top Asia official, characterising Indian media reports as “misleading”, has made it clear that India can expect no waiver from Russia-related sanctions if it signs major new defence deals with Moscow.
The congressional waiver crimps India’s leeway with its stringent conditions, including a six-monthly presidential certification specifying the other side’s active steps to cut its inventory of Russian military hardware.
OIL AND CHABAHAR
• On the Iran-related sanctions, no waiver for India is still in sight. With global shipping operators already pulling back from business with Iran and oil prices rising, India’s energy-import bill is increasing.
• US sanctions threaten to affect even India’s Pakistanbypassing transportation corridor to Afghanistan via Iran, including the Chabahar port project.
TOUGH STANCE
• The Trump administration is clearly seeking to influence India’s armsprocurement and energy-import policies.
• This is in keeping with its increasing unilateralism, including dictating terms to allies and friends. Canada, for example, has been warned to accept US’s terms or face exclusion from the new NAFTA.
• Japan is buying a $2.1 billion US missile-defence system, not because it can effectively protect it from missile attacks, but because of US pressure to buy more American military hardware.
U.S – RUSSIA
• Washington is similarly pressuring New Delhi to buy more American weapons, although the US has already emerged as the largest arms seller to India.
• But, while the US basically sells defensive military systems, Russia has armed India with offensive weapons, including a nuclear-powered submarine and an aircraft carrier.
• Washington is also seeking to sell more oil and gas to India, besides pressing it to switch imports from Iran to Saudi Arabia and other US allies. However, next-door Iran, offering discounted pricing, will remain critical to India’s energy- diversification strategy.
COMMUNICATIONS COMPATIBILITY AND SECURITY AGREEMENT (COMCASA)
• Meanwhile, the US — after its success in getting India to accept a logistics assistance pact, which includes access to designated Indian military sites — has pushed for India to endorse the
Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA), which the Indian armed forces initially feared could compromise their network.
• India, instead of leveraging its ties with Washington, appears set to announce at least an in-principle agreement on a modified COMCASA during the two-plus-two meeting, if not sign it.
FUTURE DEALS
•American aerospace companies such as Lockheed and Boeing Co. are pursuing a contract valued at about $15 billion with the Indian air force to supply 110 jet fighters
WhatsApp