Background

The Opportunity



During his visit this week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will aim to strengthen the India-US security partnership in order to counter an increasingly aggressive China. This is a major break from India’s traditional, nonaligned status and will offer your best opportunity to partner with India to address growing security challenges posed by China.

The US-India relationship has enjoyed a recent upward trajectory due to Prime Minister Modi’s efforts, in which he has invested significant political capital. He hopes to forge a strong personal chemistry with you, and a robust security relationship, particularly by increasing defense trade, with the United States.

Commonalities between the United States and India provide a genuine platform for cooperation. Both countries considerably value political systems centered on democratic cooperation and western values, and each realizes the need to ensure that Beijing behaves by the rules of the post-World War II institutional order that the United States helped build.

While India has not yet shifted from its historical policy of strategic autonomy, statements by Indian Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar indicate that policy makers envision a “leading” Indian role in Asia, rather than only a balancing role to counter China. According to Modi’s vision, India wishes to assume a leading role in ensuring the safety and security of the Indian Ocean region. India’s potent geostrategic location and status as a rising power make it an ideal partner for US cooperation. The United States should take advantage of this position to work with India as a leader as well as a balancer wherever and whenever applicable.