Challenges for India’s Foreign Policy

Context

India’s foreign policy challenges in the current internal and external developments.

Background

The global situation is in a gloom, there will be many unforeseen challenges especially in the post-COVID-19 world for India. Recent developments around the periphery of India's foreign policy, like LAC clash with China, Nepal's new map, Iran joining a virtual alliance with China, Russia getting close to China, continuous firing at LOC posed several immediate challenges to India, needs to resolve expeditiously.

Managing China

India’s most serious challenge, has seen some success but it remains a major and continuing problem. India’s more active role in the Quad in its second avatar is a positive sign. Despite the occasional wavering in India’s Indo-Pacific policy, elevating the Quad to foreign ministerial level deliberations shows the willingness of all the four Quad members to acknowledge the reality of the China problem and the need for the four to work toward strategic coordination.

But there are serious problems with India’s hard capacity to manage the China problem. General V.P. Malik, the former chief of Indian Army Staff, said during the Kargil war that “we will fight with what we have,” but such an approach while facing a much a larger and strong force in China will be dangerous for India.

Russia-Pak Closeness

There has been increasingly close ties between Pakistan and Russia through the sale of Mi-35 helicopters and engines for JF-17 Thunder. They even began to conduct joint military exercises. Military and technical ties have become the base for the India-Russia relationship, but India is expanding its basket of nations for defence purchases. Thus, these outcomes are a matter of huge concern. Despite the growing ties between Pakistan and Russia, it should be noted that Moscow stood by India on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. The main challenge that threatens the bilateral relation now is from China’s BRI, which Russia has joined.

India’s internal developments

Today, India’s neighborhood policy is facing serious challenges, in part because of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC). Together, they have had a particularly negative impact on India’s relations with Afghanistan and Bangladesh. With the CAA targeting three Islamic neighbors – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan – India’s neighborhood diplomacy suddenly faces new problems.

Relations with Bangladesh had improved significantly under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina but the CAA and the NRC have put the Bangladeshi government in a difficult position. Relations with Afghanistan, another friendly neighbor, are affected also. Moreover, the CAA is seen both as specifically targeting Muslims and as equating Indian citizenship with Hinduism, raising eyebrows across the world. Even India’s partners are questioning its credentials as a multicultural, pluralist society.

UNSC Permanent Seat

The UNSC consists of 15 members: 10 non-permanent and five permanent members — China, France, Russia, the UK and US.

Ten years since we were last elected to the UNSC, we are facing very different challenges to international peace and security.

Despite repeated assertions of its right to a permanent seat at the UN Security Council, India’s campaign for expansion of the UNSC has slowed down, available official statements suggest. The slow pace is visible in the fact that India’s campaign did not prompt the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to move towards the resolution for expanding the UNSC four years after the General Assembly in a landmark decision in 2015 had declared plans for the same.

India seems to have depended on the argument that it is entitled to a seat at the UNSC because of multiple factors such as population, growing economic stature and growing global responsibilities like peacekeeping.

NSG Membership

Indian nuclear test was the creation of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Seven nuclear supplier governments were convinced that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) alone was not adequate to control the spread of nuclear weapons.

The members of NSG seeks to contribute to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons through the implementation of two sets of Guidelines for nuclear exports and nuclear-related exports. The NSG Guidelines also contain the “Non-Proliferation Principle,” adopted in 1994, whereby a supplier, notwithstanding other provisions in the NSG Guidelines, authorizes a transfer only when satisfied that the transfer would not contribute to the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The NSG Guidelines are implemented by each Participating Government in accordance with its national laws and practices.

Since, India has not yet signed on any of the major non-proliferation treaties particularly the NPT, therefore, technically India faces a host of challenges ranging from questions about its credibility vis-à-vis the issue of nonproliferation, disarmament etc. Simultaneously hurdles created by China in obtaining membership.

Conclusion

India did enjoy certain soft power benefit as the world’s largest democracy, with diverse cultures and religions co-existing in a stable political system, but that image has been tarnished by the recent developments.

India’s democracy and stability plays at least a supporting role in India’s partnerships, and even uncertainty can hurt these relations. While India has faced many external difficulties in the past, they have rarely been the result of domestic politics. Handling these new challenges could be much more difficult than the Indian government assumes.

Scholars have blamed China and Pakistan for quietly carried out a campaign to dilute the image of India. Veteran diplomats have said that the latest UNSC meeting on Kashmir which was convened following an initiative from China showed that India will have to show more “stamina” to stop China from using the organ against India’s interest.

Connecting the Article

Question for Prelims

With reference to the Nuclear Suppliers Group , consider the following statements:

1. It authorize the nuclear supplier to transfer nuclear material for any purposes.
2. It was formed after the nuclear test conducted by India in 1974.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Question for Mains

Discuss the significance of UNSC permanent membership for India.