Editor's note: Rabi Sankar Bosu is an Indian contributor to Chinese media outlets. He writes about Chinese politics, social and cultural issues, and China-India relations with a special interest in the Belt and Road Initiative. The article reflects the author's views, and not necessarily those of CGTN.

Right after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited India in July, nationalistic Indian analysts and experts started penning lurid Op-Eds about it. They praised the success of India hosting Blinken by advocating U.S. interference in China's Tibet affairs. They also applauded strategic cooperation between India and the U.S. under the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. They acted as if India had achieved a lot from the top U.S. diplomat's maiden voyage to Delhi since the Biden administration took charge in January. But the scorecard is in favor of Washington's foreign policy strategy – not India's interests.

Many Indian commentaries hailed Blinken's separate meeting with Ngodup Dongchung, a representative of the Dalai Lama, by stating that it sent a strong message to China. They even suggested that the Indian government must support the Biden administration's more assertive policy on Tibet to counter China by highlighting the India-China border tensions that erupted in May of last year. But the most important question is how India allowed Blinken to hold a meeting on its soil with Dongchung who is not a representative of India's Buddhist community.

If the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government withdraws India's recognition of Tibet as being part of China in order to authenticate the U.S.' repeated attempts at interfering in China's Tibet-related issues by passing the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act of 2018 or the Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2020, it will further sour Sino-Indian bilateral ties. The Indian government needs a reality check on India's Tibet stance. 

Although Blinken's visit shows that the U.S. is keen to bolster the India-U.S. global strategic partnership, the visit was designed as a mutual effort to counter what the new Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. Qin Gang calls "a new, modern and risen China," especially in the Indo-Pacific region.

Furthermore, without directly naming China, the U.S. Secretary of State made a veiled attack on China by emphasizing the "shared values" of the world's two democracies, standing in support of "shared ideals" at a time of "a rising global threat to democracy." Quite justifiably, China's Foreign Ministry did not take the matter lightly and made strong objections to Blinken's comment. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on July 28 responded, "I want to stress that democracy is a common value shared by all, not a patent owned by any country."

But it should be known that the warm handshakes between the U.S. Secretary of State and high-level Indian officials did not shed any light on the dark outlook of India's COVID-hit economy. Since Modi came to power in 2014, the country's GDP growth has been sluggish, with retail inflation rising high. The country's economy saw its biggest ever contraction of more than 7 percent in the financial year ending in March 2021. 

Most Indians thought that Blinken might offer some concessions in trade and the economic domain for its important partner's COVID-battered economy. However, Blinken did not spend any words on this. It should be noted here the U.S. State Department said in its "2021 Investment Climate Statements" that India remains "a challenging place to do business." It is a clear signal that India will not get any extra opportunity for its economic development from America despite India's leaning toward the Biden administration.

According to a statement issued by the Indian Embassy in Washington, India's total exports to the U.S. in 2020 were down by 11.3 percent to $51.1 billion as compared to $57.7 billion in 2019. On the other hand, despite the border issue, total trade between India and China reached $87.6 billion in 2020, of which India’s exports to China were $20.8 billion, a year-on-year export increase of 16 percent. China customs data showed that during the first half of 2021, India's exports to China shot up by 69.6 percent year-on-year to $14.74 billion.

Blinken said cooperation between the two countries is very important to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Although Blinken pledged $25 million for India's COVID-19 vaccination drive, the U.S. still hasn't sent its extra Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, citing legal obstacles.

Modi and his advisors should keep in mind that India's alliance with the U.S. will not bring any good for the Indian public despite rhetoric that uses terms such as "global strategic partnership" or "indispensable allies" or "defining partnership of the 21st century." Instead of boxing with China, India should join hands with China, as the country's economic dependency on China for realizing its "Make in India" campaign is crucial. India should resist becoming a geopolitical pawn of the U.S. and harming its own national interests in the process.

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