EDITORIAL

Indo-US Ties: Equality Yes, Servility No

THE stunning re-election of George W Bush as the US president appears to have overwhelmed certain sections in India. The talk of closer ties with the USA being inevitable in a world where there is only one superpower is, once again, gaining ground. It would be disastrous if the UPA government works to abandon its foreign policy orientation as defined in the Common Minimum Programme (CMP).

The CMP states: “Independent foreign policy to be pursued to promote multipolarity in world relations and oppose all attempts at unilateralism.” This objective must be kept in mind in the post-US election period. What do the US election results suggest?  During the past four years, particularly since 9/11, the USA has been pursuing aggressively its designs for global hegemony. The Bush doctrine of preemptive strike has given the USA a self-bestowed right to intervene militarily against any sovereign country. The only qualification for this is its own threat perception. The Indian parliament unanimously condemned the USA’s war against Iraq and the subsequent military occupation. The USA has listed various countries in its “axis of evil” which it feels the need to be “brought in line.” Bush’s re-election suggests that such US aggressiveness may get sharpened. India will have to guard against this.

This US aggressiveness is contrary to the normal course of international developments which worked towards replacing the Cold War bipolarity with multipolarity. US imperialism, however, seeks to subvert this trend and to impose unipolarity under its global hegemony. Under these circumstances, it is important to recollect the CMP, once again. It states: “While pursuing closer engagement and relations with the USA, independence of India’s foreign policy position on all regional and global issues will be maintained.” 

It is absolutely imperative that the Indian government must adhere to this ---  both in letter and spirit. Also, with Bush’s re-election, it is likely that in various international fora, pressures will be brought on developing countries in the sphere of economic policy. As it is happening in the ongoing WTO negotiations, the efforts to prise open economies of developing nations further to exploitation of multinational capital would intensify. India will have to strengthen efforts for a unified resistance by developing countries.  The G-20 and other such mechanisms must be strengthened to ensure the protection of the economic sovereignty of independent developing countries.  In fact, the CMP states: “The UPA government will play a proactive role in strengthening the emerging solidarity of developing countries in the shape of G-20 in the WTO.”

Indo-US relations must be governed by mutual interest, respect and equality. They cannot be governed by acquiescing to US pressures or by servility.   This requires the pursuit of an independent foreign policy.