America Focuses on India

Indian Prime Minister Singh has traveled to Washington as President Obama’s first state guest since his inauguration. As fear gathers in India that the United States’ Asia policy is leaning toward China and Pakistan, the summit aimed to publicly reaffirm the United States’ pro-India stance. A joint statement made after the summit showed a certain consideration for India. With the one-year anniversary of the Mumbai terrorist attack soon approaching, the statement also underlined the need to bring the attack’s ringleaders to trial. India welcomed the move, which was meant to urge the government of Pakistan—alleged to be the base from which the perpetrators acted—to resolve the incident.

The United States seems to have benefited from the summit mainly on the economic front. As with the U.S.-China summit meeting on 17 November, a broad consensus was reached on measures to tackle global warming and cooperation in energy matters. The leaders also agreed to implement the nuclear agreement (concluded under the Bush administration) in the near future.

It appears that President Obama has followed up his success in China by establishing a foothold in the Indian market in a field he hopes will kick-start the rebuilding of U.S. employment and its economy. However, it is unfortunate that the leaders did not agree on concrete goals for decreasing carbon dioxide emissions.

The two leaders also agreed to convene for an annual cabinet-level financial policy summit. U.S.-India economic ties have grown by leaps and bounds since India liberalized its economy in 1990, but stand to gain even more impetus now.

Unfortunately, Japan-India economic ties are being overshadowed. Japan is the biggest official development assistance donor to India, but this aid is not really translating to increased private-sector exchange. We would like to see policies that boost the private sector, such as a framework for exchanges on a personal level.

Because India is not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Japan has foregone any nuclear cooperation agreement. Given that Prime Minister Singh has declared that India would not carry out any more nuclear tests, the path to civil cooperation could be cleared by diplomatic efforts.

It is unclear where India (or the United States) would fit into the “East Asian community” framework proposed by Japanese Prime Minster Yukio Hatoyama. India’s market is second only to China’s in possibilities—we must broaden our horizons in pursuing our national interests.