Failing foreign policies

By: Sauro Dasgupta
This year , Foreign Secretary Shringla was on a tour to the EU nations. Foreign Minister Jaishankar is also engaging with them more Our communication strategy should be stronger via press conferences via the Ministers in their ministries, not in the party headquarters or merely attending Geopolitical conferences. We must cultivate friends among the bureaucracy, media, academics and policy think tanks of Europe and the West and retain them. We must refute every false claim made by the International left against India. Social media and merely hanging out with leaders is not enough for that. We need to influence them and create a pool of pro India network worldwide and in India.
While we have good relations with most nations, the diatribes of Mahathir Mohammad against India and his influence on the incumbent government as well is preventing us from making any breakthrough. He became very anti India since we abrogated Article 370 and he pushed for greater friendship with Turkey and Pakistan and China against India. He tweeted against the French and argued for violence on the part of Muslims against French imperialism (especially on majority Muslim nations like Algeria). He remained uncensored.
EU will rise higher in global influence with Biden in the White House. So if Delhi wishes to exert more international authority, we should deploy our top-notch diplomats to Brussels, not Washington DC. This comes in the backdrop of an extremely weak foreign policy team of President Biden. Laura Rosenburghjoining the National Security Council as Senior Director for China and Ambassador Bill Burns as CIA Director signals an extremely weak leadership under whom the US will become weaker. Political correctness is now threatening to overtaken even the US Military. General Lloyd Austin’s appointment could have come a long way in undoing the same, but unfortunately that has not been the case.US has surrendered to the Chinese and Russian regimes and their allies- abetted by the woke Leftist mob.
Indian diaspora in the US is one of the key reasons that there will be bi-partisan consensus in enhancing the relationship between the two countries. As the diaspora population is set to grow 2%+ in the upcoming decade, diverse and dynamic representation like this will be natural.
Today’s global elite, like their predecessors, still believe that developing nations like India is a state nation not a nation state. They think it’s fashionable to say India was not a nation before 1947 or a nation in making, ignoring our 5000 year civilization acknowledged by Megasthenes, Huein Tsang, Al Biruni, Ibn Batuta, William Jones, Max Mueller, etc. They do the same in case of all post-colonial countries and subject them to repression. Indeed, Huxley’s and Orwell’s writings are deeply relevant in this world where we are on the verge of being overtaken by deracination, chaos and anarchy, all exacerbated by the global elite, which is reflected everyday in their policies.
As US weakens, China will try to dominate IOR even more. It’s navy is getting stronger. Coco Islands of Myanmar, leased to China, Gwadar Port, Hambantota Port under China puts India at a disadvantage. Sri Lanka, Maldives are using both India and China. Our fight may now be proxy wars or domestic interference in the countries of IOR. India won’t begin it. China might. PLAN may also try to attack our borders. Aircraft carriers and greater focus on IOR is now needed on the part of India.Chinese Infrastructure and defense partnerships matters to many nations, which eventually succumb to debt trap diplomacy of China, as is evident in case of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Uganda. Bangladesh PM Hasina has chosen the Chinese over any shared cultural bonding with India. Anti Bangladeshi statements by our politicians and pressure from BNP have also led her move closer to China.
Pakistan is now a Chinese colony. China can occupy it physically in the nick of time unless it has any all nations unite against China or it has a severe domestic crisis. Our western threat will be much more than now.
Darius tried to overtake India via trade and commerce but was stopped when Alexander invaded Persia. Only a miracle can do this to China now. But with EU and US bowing before China, it will be very difficult.
China is a threat to all of us. EU leaders have now signed a trade and investment deal with them. Canada is now an all weather friend of China, forgetting the detention of the Canadian citizens after Canada arrested Huawei CFO and handed her over to the US. This Stockholm Syndrome and shortsightedness will not augur well for the world.
To ramp up its military muscle, India is looking forward for complete technology transfer in case of Rafale so as to manufacture more fighter jets of Rafale in India. Under Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, we are trying to utilize our domestic defense industry, in the public and private sector.
The problem here is that Pakistan, Chinese and Western bureaucracies are in consonance with or subservient to the Military. Here, it’s the opposite. Military can innovate but all plans are rejected by politicians in favour of the bureaucracy.
Besides, the media and International organizations are heavily in favour of the bureaucracy and against the military. Funds are available but any request by the military is not accepted by the bureaucracy. Sadly even PM Modi has been unable to overhaul the system.
Till date, the advanced version of Tejas is not manufactured due to bureaucratic inefficiency. The arrival of Rafale is also delayed.Pakistanand China are security states and quite efficient under the military. Here, in India any such attempt is resisted by the system.
But Pakistan and China which were a little soft when Trump was in office. Although Joe Biden has done a lot for Pakistan when he was a senator, Pakistan is not going to rely on the US anymore. The era of honeymoon and strategic end-games between Pakistan and the US is over. Pakistan will now remain in the camp of Russia and China in the future. It will have a transactional relationship with the US. Biden will not pressurize Pakistan to keep it a little away from the Chinese influence too. Overall, for Pakistan, it doesn’t economic reforms and move away from its outdated traditional approach to international politics and become a responsible state for the world and its citizens too. The people of Pakistan want democracy, economy, jobs, tourism, good relations, education, bright future etc. Nothing has been gained by Pakistan and China from its end-games. Costs have always outweighed the benefits.
China will continue to force investment deals with other nations, many of whom end up in debt traps, force MNCs to comply with their norms and punish Chinese MNCs for doing so in foreign soil.Military bases are being set up to protect the assets of China. They can easily occupy the areas of countries and colonize them. After all PLA is one of the strongest militaries worldwide.
India must ensure that it can tackle all challenges. It must not lose. With a combination of military muscles and diplomacy, it will win.
(The writer is PG 1 student, Department of International, Jadavpur University)