Editor's note: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent state visit to the U.S. resulted in the signing of several defense and commercial agreements between the two countries. While some perceive the deepening India-U.S. ties as aimed at countering China's increasing global influence, India's official position on the Russia-Ukraine conflict and its rejection of joining the so-called "NATO Plus" military alliance indicate a continued commitment to its long-standing policy of non-alignment and strategic sovereignty. To gain further insights into India's stance and its implications on New Delhi's relations with the United States and China, CGTN's Sr. International Editor Abhishek G. Bhaya spoke with seasoned political thinker Sudheendra Kulkarni, former aide to India's former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and founder of the Forum for New South Asia. The views expressed in the video are his own and not necessarily those of CGTN.
CGTN: India has traditionally maintained a policy of non-alignment. Now we see a lot of interest in the Asia-Pacific region by the United States. How does India see this development and what are its impact on India-China relations?
Kulkarni: As Asian nations, we should not allow an outsider to fish in troubled waters, which is what the United States is doing. We have certain issues between ourselves, but we are fully capable of resolving our issues amongst ourselves. What the United States of America is doing is shifting its security focus from NATO, that is, [from] Europe to Asia-Pacific because they see China as a threat.
China is not a threat. China's development is a natural phenomenon in history, China is a nation of 1.4 billion people. China is an ancient civilization with enormous achievements in the past. So China is entitled to grow in its own way, to become prosperous and to influence the rest of the world, just as India is aspiring to do the same because India is also a large nation. The West cannot stomach this, and that's why they're creating all kinds of new arrangements and trying to take India away in its design of containing China.
I strongly believe that India must not abandon its policy of non-alignment or strategic autonomy. Of course, we should continue to have the best economic relations, development relations with the United States, just as China is doing. China also wants to have very good economic and trade relations with the United States. But when it comes to military cooperation, which is targeted against some other nation, we should say no.
Abhishek: Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar recently rejected a proposal that was coming out of the U.S. for India to join the "NATO Plus" alliance. How do you explain India's reasoning for this decision and what impact such a decision will have on India's equations with both the U.S. and China?
Kulkarni: The fact that our External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has rejected the concept of India joining what is called the "NATO Plus" is most welcome. India must not join any military bloc. India has not joined any military bloc in the past, and India must not join any military bloc in the future. In fact, there should be no military blocs at all. What is the rationale for NATO to exist in the first place? Warsaw Pact went away, it has disappeared, so why should NATO be there?
But Western powers, they in fact want to expand NATO, "NATO Plus," and they want to bring in Asian nations into NATO. They want to create an Asian NATO, all this to somehow create conditions where their dominance, their hegemony can continue. And India must not fall into this trap. So it's a good thing that we rejected this idea of joining NATO Plus.
Only when all nations feel secure, the world can be secure. There can be no global security with some countries feeling secure and others feeling insecure. This, I think, is the meaning, true meaning, of President Xi Jinping's idea of the Global Security Initiative.
CGTN: India is also in a unique place when it comes to multilateralism. India is part of the BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in China and Russia are also founding members. But India is also a member of QUAD, which is perceived as an alliance of countries aimed at containing China's rising influence. How do you explain this contradiction?
Kulkarni: With the rise of a multipolar world, there are many new multilateral platforms, organizations that have come up. You mentioned BRICS, you mentioned Shanghai Cooperation Organization. And in other parts of the world, there are other such multilateral organizations, including G20. G20 is also multilateral. It began as G7, the elite group of the Western nations, which actually its influence is declining. And now it's G20, which is more broad-based. And India and China, along with other developing countries, should strengthen these multilateral organizations.
It's a very good thing that 19 new countries want to join BRICS, so it could be BRICS Plus. Shanghai Cooperation Organization is yet another very good multilateral organization that is going to create a new kind of cooperation and common security in the entire Eurasian region.
Therefore the Western powers, they do not like this. They have therefore created a new thing called QUAD, quadrilateral, and AUKUS. I hope that India must resist transforming the quadrilateral into some kind of a security alliance that is meant to contain China. If it's purely economic cooperation, there is no harm. But if there is any security angle or strategic angle to contain China, then India must not be part of it.
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