People's Democracy

PM Visit to Washington: More Defence Ties

Prakash Karat

PRIME Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Washington and the outcome of his meeting with President Obama was overshadowed by the outburst of Rahul Gandhi against the ordinance passed by the UPA government on the very day of the meeting. This has led to minimal attention to the Obama-Manmohan Singh summit meeting even from the corporate media which normally goes overboard in assessing Indo-US relations. However, the joint statement and the declaration on defence cooperation signed after the talks has to be properly evaluated for its implications.

The main outcome of the third summit meeting of the two leaders is the thrust for greater defence cooperation.  While bilateral economic ties and increasing American investments in India also was taken up along with security cooperation, energy and environmental issues, the emphasis on increasing defence cooperation stands out. 

One year after the UPA government came into office in 2004, India signed a Defence Framework Agreement with the US in June 2005.  This has been the basis for the growing military collaboration between the two countries.

During the Manmohan Singh visit, the Joint Declaration on Defence Cooperation has also been issued.  The main principle set out is that: “The US and India share common security interests and place each other at the same level as their closest partners”.  It goes on to say that: “This principle will apply with respect to defence technology transfer, trade, research, co-development and co-production of defence articles and services”.  What this means is that India will buy more arms from the United States and will also go in for joint production of arms and equipment and be treated as a close ally of the United States.

Already India has stepped up buying arms and defence equipment from the United States. In the last few years, India has bought $9 billion worth of American weapons and equipment.  What is now proposed is to have American arms companies investing in India for defence production. 

For this, the UPA government has decided to allow 26 per cent FDI in the defence production sector and also to increase the limit of FDI on a case by case basis. 

The United States and especially the Pentagon had drawn up plans nearly two decades ago, which includes India as a military ally.  In fact, it was to accomplish this aim of making India a strategic ally that the Indo-US nuclear deal was offered as a sweetener by the Bush administration.  The January 2012 Pentagon document, `Strategic Guidance’ gave a prominent place for India, as a strategic partner, alongside other longstanding allies such as Japan, Australia and South Korea. Recently in July this year, the US Air Force Chief for the Pacific, Gen. Carlisle, told reporters that the United States will expand its presence in Asia and use air bases in various Asian countries and among the various places mentioned in this connection was Trivandrum in Kerala.

This must be seen in the context of the US “strategic pivot” to the Asia-Pacific region. It may be recalled that the then US Secretary of Defence, Leon Panetta, on his first visit to India in May 2012 had stated that defence cooperation with India is a “linchpin” in the pivot to the Asia-Pacific region. 

In the run-up to the Manmohan Singh’s visit to Washington, talks were held between Ashton Carter, the US Deputy Secretary of Defence and the National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon on how to promote defence trade and joint production of defence equipment.  This has now found a prominent place in the joint declaration.

The joint statement with Obama has also announced that India would participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) naval exercise hosted by the US Pacific command in 2014.  This step is part of the expanding Indo-US military exercises which have taken place since the mid-1990s.  The US conducts the largest number of military exercises with India  in the world. India has already participated in the trilateral military exercises with US and Japan.  All this is part of the US plan to draw India into its US strategic alliance in Asia.  During this visit, Manmohan Singh has agreed to be put in par with closest military allies of the US.

Along with  the enhanced military defence cooperation, the UPA government has also been trying to accommodate the United States economic and commercial interests, whether it be the question of relaxing the norms for FDI in retail trade or diluting the civil nuclear liability law to enable the US companies to sell nuclear reactors to India like the Westinghouse deal. 

The close intertwining of American and Indian strategic interests is going to adversely affect India.  We have already seen how India has, against its own interests, cut down drastically on oil imports from Iran.  India has not  had the courage to say that it won’t accept US sanctions against Iran as they are not UN sanctions.  Even on Syria, India took a stand in conformity with the US interests when it voted for the Western resolution in the Security Council in February 2012.  This was vetoed by Russia and China. It is only now after worldwide opposition to the proposed American intervention and the firm stand taken by Russia and other BRIC countries that India came out against military intervention  at the time of the G-20 summit.

There is no indication that Manmohan Singh raised the issue of the surveillance and spying on India being conducted by the National Security Agency of the US during his meeting with Obama. According to the Snowden revelations, India is a prime target for surveillance being the fifth country in terms of the volume of data which is harvested. In fact, India did not even lodge a protest with the US about this spying as even its closest allies, Germany and France, did.  On the contrary, the External Affairs Minister Khurshid even declared that this is not "snooping". Unlike India, the Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff cancelled her visit to Washington when surveillance of her communications was revealed. Such is the extent of subservience which has entered India's relationship with the US.

The growing military collaboration with the United States will allow US penetration into the vital defence and armed forces structure.  This will have serious repercussions for India’s sovereignty, independent foreign policy and strategic autonomy.  The visit of Manmohan Singh had portended that more concessions would be made to the United States in this his last official interaction with the US president. 

The BJP has no objections whatsoever to the pro-US policy of the Manmohan Singh government. It was only concerned about the meeting with the Pakistani prime minister in New York.  This indicates how the ruling classes in India are fully committed to strategic collaboration with the United States.

The Left should mobilise other democratic forces in the country to oppose this growing military and strategic collaboration with the United States.