Indians have a positive view of U.S. President Trump and look at Washington’s role in the Indian and Pacific ocean region “favourably”, says a survey conducted by an Australian institute. Former Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith, who released the survey in Delhi, said the findings from India ran counter to the views of people surveyed in Japan, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia and China.

“There’s no doubt that the rise of the Trump presidency has seen a diminution of the U.S. influence in the rest of Asia. On the other hand if you look at the U.S. through the eyes of India, it is the most robust country in its view of U.S. influence. In terms of our results, Indians take a very positive view of the current position of the U.S. and of its future role here,” Mr. Smith told The Hindu in an interview.

Narrow prism

Another point of divergence was that while Indians believed an India-Pakistan conflict was the most likely to occur, the other countries surveyed believed that it was most likely that conflict would break out between DPRK and ROK (North and South Korea)

The survey of public opinion in the six countries, undertaken by the “Perth U.S. Asia Centre” looked at attitudes about America’s role in the “Indo-Pacific” as the region around the two oceans are referred to. This year, analysts compared the results of previous years on the issue of the Trump presidency.

“India is really an outlier, on every question they have a more optimistic view of the United States as compared to even allies like Japan, Australia and Korea. Japanese who are the closest allies were very pessimistic that the U.S. has its best days behind it. In India 61% say they are ahead,” said Gordon Flake, the CEO of the Perth U.S. Asia Centre.

Doklam impact

Mr. Smith said most other countries felt China would have the greater influence on Asia’s future, and lauded India’s actions at Doklam, where both New Delhi and Beijing effected a diplomatic resolution last week, agreeing to withdraw troops from the face-off point at the India-China-Bhutan tri-junction.

“India’s actions were exemplary, it showed no hesitation in coming to the assistance of a small power (Bhutan) against a large power (China), and proved that might is not right.” Mr. Smith said.

On the issue of North Korea’s nuclear test, Mr. Smith, who was Australia’s Defence Minister from 2010-2013 and Foreign Minister from 2007-2010 said the decision to test just ahead of the BRICS summit hosted by China was aimed at President Xi Jinping.

“I don’t think that in the run up to the BRICS summit that Xi Jinping would have appreciated the hydrogen bomb test in North Korea. It shows the need for China to exert much more influence over North Korea,” he said.