Take Two: Is India rethinking its non-alignment?

Has China’s belligerence forced India to waver on its policy of non-alignment?

With the recent signing of BECA — Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement, India has officially completed signing the fourth fundamental defence cooperation pacts with the USA. This is the last of the four agreements with the three preceding including a logistics pact, a communications agreement and a pact for sharing of classified information from the US government with the GOI.

What the world claims is a ‘soft military alliance’ might be a hard pill for India to swallow as with this, India is officially an ally to the USA, contesting the hegemonic and expansionist rule of China in the Indo-pacific. This provides strong grounds for a possible ‘hard’ military alliance in the future, not just bilaterally, between India and US, but also between members of the Quad and Quad plus.

And while not in the form of a full-blown maritime offensive, this signalling has raised US expectations from India to protect its interests in the region.

This is divergent to India’s Foreign policy and politics, which till the border dispute in May 2020, remained steadfast to its long standing policy of strategic autonomy.

But India’s narrative seems to be changing. The loss of lives in Ladakh this year has shattered all myths and illusions about peaceful and friendly relations with China. ‘Hindi-Chini’ are no longer ‘bhai-bhai’. In fact, it has brought into question not just the political and diplomatic relations, but also trade relations.

This move by China has pushed India towards pursuing bilateral and multilateral partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region, where India is signing new trade deals to reduce its dependency on China. For the first time India has also invited Australia for the Malabar exercises, conducted this month.

India has time and again proven its might as a force to be reckoned with. Under the Modi government, India has proactively taken steps to strengthen its political-diplomatic and economic foothold in the world. And although, it might be too soon to say if India will eventually shed its ideals of strategic autonomy, while still keeping intact its sovereignty, it might be fair to say that she will safeguard her national interests, even if it means a take two.