Albeit the final one, US Defence Secretary Ash Carter’s visit to India on 8 December involves a sense of déjà vu for quite a few reasons. Ashton Carter and his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar have already met five times this year. Their togetherness has seen the bilateral defence relationship and the overarching strategic partnership soar.
Following his successful visit to India in April earlier this year, this will be more of a symbolic one which will try and consolidate on the gains made in the past few years while at the same time instilling a sense of transitional continuity. This effort is being spearheaded by a bid to institutionalise the recently bestowed tag of Major Defence Partner (MDP) to India.
US-India Ties Fall in Zone Between Partners and Allies
The MDP label is a significant step towards improving relations between India and the US for at least two broad reasons.
First, it consolidates the gains made in bilateral defence relations between the two countries in at least the last decade through a process of formalisation that would transcend changing stakeholders in Washington. In the process, the current Secretary of Defence Ash Carter will leave an indispensable India file in the Pentagon for his successor James Mattis. Even in the post-transition period in Washington, there will be an overbearing legacy of political compulsions and heavy financial stakes involved to keep the ‘Mad Dog’ from chewing the India file off.
Second, the MDP status would be the last arc completing the full circle of strategic partnership between India and the US that peaked under the Obama administration. The MDP would be the defence sector equivalent of the political reinforcement that India has received from the US under Obama. The current administration through its support to India’s Nuclear Supplier’s Group bid and the United Nations Security Council seat, and, more importantly, through favourably inclined politico-diplomatic rhetoric flowing from Washington to India since 2011 has subtly nudged the bilateral relations to a unique zone that lies between partners and allies.
The US has three categorisations for its diplomatic and political relationship with countries around the world: Friends, partners and allies – in that order of increasing proximity. India has created a fourth dimension in US’ relations with foreign countries; one that lies beyond the friend category but stops short of being an ally.
India has tacitly sought a similar treatment from the US as meted out to its allies like Australia, South Korea, Japan and the UK. But the Obama administration has shied away from such diplomatic benevolence for various reasons.
MDP Status Will Shield Defence Cooperation from Trump’s Unpredictability
While the political endorsement arising out of the Obama administration through populist phrases apropos India-US relations like, “a defining partnership” and “partnership of the twenty-first century” provided the necessary buoyancy in bilateral ties, partnership in the defence sector proved to be the game-changer.
With the US as the largest manufacturer in the defence sector and India positioned as the largest buyer, it does not appear more than a natural corollary that defence commerce between the two countries has risen dramatically over the past few years. However, in the recent past there is emerging political consensus that goes well beyond just the defence sector.
An ever expanding trade spectrum has seen frequent revision in bilateral trade targets; cooperation in infrastructure development projects like the Smart City project has opened newer avenues. And ongoing and prospective cooperation in the energy sector carries the promise of future collaborations between India and the US. This backdrop of across-the-sectors cooperation between the two countries only complements India’s uniquely-zoned and special partnership with the US.
The MDP status, then, would imprint the inviolable terms of India’s necessity for the next administration that takes the mantle from President Obama. The fact that the incoming Trump administration’s cabinet would be brimming with retired military generals could trigger anticipation in many of further advancements in India-US defence ties. While that would be a risky extrapolation, credit must be given to the Obama administration for signing off with the MDP which carries the promise of durability and shields bilateral defence cooperation from the unpredictable ways of Trump.
(Vivek Mishra is an Assistant Professor of International Relations in Asia at Netaji Institute for Asian Studies, Kolkata. This is a personal blog and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)
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