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India’s foreign policy should focus on ties with U.S., China: Lalit Mansingh

CHENNAI: India’s foreign policy over the next few decades needs to focus on developing relationships with the U.S. and China as none of the proposed trilateral and quadrilateral groupings is likely to go far, former Foreign Secretary and Ambassador to the U.S. Lalit Mansingh said on Friday.

Addressing a national seminar on ‘Economic Growth and National Security,’ organised by the Centre for Security Analysis (CSA) and the United Service Institution of India (USII), New Delhi, Mr. Mansingh said a prospering relationship with these countries was vital not only for India’s security interests but for the future of the world as well.

According to him, India’s history of strategic alliances dating back to the Puranic period could be classified into three phases — the period of Nehruvian idealism (1947-67), Indira Gandhi’s brand of realism (1967-97) and the ongoing phase of dynamism (1997-2007).

If India had lacked both domestic strength and global ambition in the first phase, the aspiration to join the big league during the second phase was not matched by domestic vigour.

According to him, alongside the recent shift in India’s foreign policy from idealism to pragmatism, the policy content had changed from political to economic framework. Ideological sloganeering had been phased out.

Importantly, there had been a redrawing of priority for high-level contacts with countries; in other words fastidiousness had replaced uniform attitude towards all countries, the former diplomat said.

Most significantly, there was an increasing and positive influence from South Block (Ministry of External Affairs) and North Block (Finance) on the country’s external posturing, he said.

These days, while India’s top 10 economic trade partners included the U.S., U.K., China and the UAE, its $ 40 billion multilateral partnership with the European Union went beyond economics to feature dialogues on the World Trade Organisation and Weapons of Mass Destruction, Mr. Mansingh said.

Noting that unlike in the past, India’s internal strength more than matched its intent for global activism and eagerness to embrace new partnerships, Mr. Mansingh pointed out that the country was narrowing the gap with China with the inflow of foreign investments grossing $16 billion the previous year and FDI touching around $22 billion.

However, what was holding up the country (from firming up the deal for energy security) was the lack of consensus among the “political elite.” The only solution to the stalemate lay in the ruling front negotiating a consensus or a general election.

Earlier, in his inaugural address Arvind Virmani, chief economic advisor, Union Ministry of Finance, said India was on course to emerge as a global power in what would essentially be a tripolar world in the next decade or so, accounting for the inability of the EU to act as a virtual State.

India, whose weakest link is institutions of governance, needs to develop the will to be a global power and its foreign policy-makers learn from how the U.S. calibrates the “discourse, language and agenda.”

Satish Nambiar, director, USII, chaired the session. V. R. Raghavan, president, CSA, welcomed the gathering.

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