President Obama charms India
Photo: outlookindia
President Obama's three day visit with his wife Michelle from 7th November has gone down very well, according to the media. There has been a positive public response to the visit which has been covered extensively on the country's many cable TV news channels. "Delhi feels Obama's first words in India hit the right notes," read a front-page headline in the newspaper The Hindu. The first day in Mumbai of the President was concentrated on jobs and trade, besides his visit to the memorial to the victims of a 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai and to a museum in a former home of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of Indian independence. Obama wrote in the guest book that Gandhi "is a hero not just to India, but to the world". The US President has impressed India by dancing Bollywood-style with his wife Michelle with children during celebrations for the Indian festival, Diwali, at a Mumbai school on 7th November and declaring that there is "limitless potential" for the Indo-American partnership to improve lives. The President said democratic India could become an "anchor for stability" in its region. During his landmark visit, Mr Obama met with the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, and other Indian leaders in New Delhi on November 8 in a bid to enhance strategic ties between the world's two biggest democracies. Pakistan and Afghanistan figured in discussions between the two leaders. Later that day.the President addresses the Indian Parliament announcing that the US would support India's bid as a permament member of the UN Security Council. The stance is seen as a major policy-shift of the US as it opposed in 2005. Mr Obama faced questions on regional security including US policy towards Pakistan and Afghanistan during a town hall-style meeting with Indian college students in Mumbai.There is concern in India over US military aid for its nuclear-armed rival and neighbour Pakistan. Mr Obama said Pakistan needs to do more to fight violent extremism within its borders but urged the estranged neighbours to co-operate. At the same he defended the US policy toward Pakistan which is to "eradicate the extremism that we consider a cancer within the country , that can potentially engulf the country." On meaning of jihad, asked by a student, the President answered with characteristic diplomacy " The phrase has a lot of meanings within Islam…all of us recognise that this great religion in the hands of a few extemists has been distorted to justify violence towards innocent people that is never justified." Mr Obama also assured his Indian audience that there would not be a hasty retreat from Afghanistan. "I have said that starting July of 2011, we will begin drawing down our [troop] levels. But we will not be removing all our troops," he said. Why is the US interested in India?First, Mr Obama's Democratic party lost control in the House of Representatives in congressional elections on 2nd November amid high unemployment of 9.6% national average. In some states including California, the rate of unemployment hovers between 15% to 30%. Mr Obama framed his visit to India in economic terms soon after arriving in Mumbai with the announcement of more than 20 business deals worth almost $US10 billion that would create 50,000 American jobs. India has an urbanising consumer-driven economy and a growing middle class more than 300 million that indulges itself in cars, apartments, and other sophisticated goods. It is the purchasing power of the middle class that attracts the US to export its goods to India. He told an audience of US and Indian business leaders: "The sheer size and pace of India's progress in just two decades is one of the most stunning achievements in human history. It is a dynamic, two-way relationship that has created jobs and growth and higher living standards in both our countries and that is the truth". Second, wealth and fear of terrorism has prompted India to become one of the biggest arms buying country in the world. India's defence budget expands by 7 to 8% per cent annually, and thus could spend $50 to 80 billion in the next five years on defence equipment. In the past several years, its appetite for more sophisticated weapons has grown. India has reduced its traditional reliance on Russian planes, ships and missiles and is turning to the US for military hardware to secure its border. At a cost of $11 billion, India wants to upgrade the defence capabilities of its airforce. The White House is backing sales like the C-17s which India would use transport its rapid response forces. Third, the US companies want to provide nuclear technology to Indian civil plants under a deal between the US and India. This has a huge commercial potential for the US companies. Mr Obama said export restrictions would be eased to allow more trade in high tech equipment. This includes an end to curbs on the sale of nuclear technology to previously blacklisted Indian organisations. Fourth, the US wants Indian companies to invest in the US to create jobs. Meanwhile, Indian companies already bought 143 US companies in the last two years. Tata Group has invested more than US$ 3 billion in the US economy. It has bought 'Eight O'Clock Coffee' for US $ 220 million. The Tata Group operates 16 businesses and employs 19,000 in America. Fifth, the US considers that India is the only country in Asia that is likely to be able to contain China's increasing diplomatic, military and economic influence in the region. Another comparable Asian power in the region which is ally to the US is in the strategic interest for the US. While the US has been engaged in war in Iraq and Afghanistan, it appears it has neglected Asia Pacific region. Meanwhile, China has already won the hearts and minds of ASEAN and extends its naval power in the Indian Ocean establishing ports in Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Finally and sixth, the Indian Ocean region suffers from a high level of international and internal conflict and is a key venue for international piracy. The Indian Ocean also is home to the world's two nuclear weapons states, India and Pakistan, Iran, which Western nations suspect has a robust program to acquire nuclear weapons, although Iran denies it strongly. The northern reaches of the ocean hum with the traffic of half the world's container ships, just under three quarters of global petroleum products and increasingly with immense tonnages of raw materials ripped from the ground of Australia, Africa and South East Asia, bound for China, India, Japan and South Korea. Through the sea lines of the Ocean passes 40% of the world's seaborne oil, including a third of China's supply, 70% of Japan's and 90% of India's. Non-military threats to maritime security are also increasing. These include gun-running, smuggling, container security, drug trafficking and oil- related environmental disasters. The sea lines must be protected even during the armed conflicts. Therefore the strategic interests of both India and the US converge. America's strategically placed military base at Diego Garcia will become more important than ever. Conclusion
The visit of President Obama in India demonstrates that both countries look forward for comprehensive partnership and seek greater cooperation in areas such as trade, investment, services, nuclear energy, science, technology and defence. At a time when China is getting assertive in claiming the disputed islands of the South China Sea, causing tensions among its neighbours, many interpret that by transforming relationship to a higher gear and establishing global partnership with India, the US will continue to maintain its strategic presence in Asia-Pacific for defence of its allies. Meanwhile, it is noted on 8th November that Australia and the United States signed an agreement paving the way for greater cooperation in the surveillance of space after annual defence and security talks at the level of Defence Ministers. US Defence Secretary Gates said the two nations would look set up a group to begin developing options for enhanced joint defence cooperation on Australian soil.
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