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Stalled US-India ties require 'bold leap forward': Experts | Ahead of US President Barack Obama's visit to India in the first week of November, a new report has acknowledged fears of many prominent Indians and Americans
that a rapid expansion of the US-India relationship has 'stalled' and has recommended a 'bold leap forward.' "Past projects remain incomplete, few new ideas have been
embraced by both sides, and the forward momentum that characterized recent cooperation
has subsided," says the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) in its report
"Natural Allies: A Blueprint for the Future of US-India Relations." The report,
whose authors include R Nicholas Burns, a former undersecretary who played a key
role in shepherding the US-India civilian nuclear deal during the George W. Bush
administration, is critical of legislation recently passed by the Indian Parliament
that holds suppliers liable in the event of a nuclear accident. It contends that
the legislation "deviates significantly from international standards." The authors
describe the law as a "major disappointment to private and public officials in
the United States , and have urged India to take quick and resolute action to
resolve this issue." The report warns that failure to do so will undermine the
most important agreement the two countries have negotiated and pose grave risks
for the relationship at the political level. Richard L. Armitage, a former deputy
secretary of state and Richard Fontaine, a senior CNAS fellow and former foreign
policy adviser to Republican Senator John McCain, are the other two authors of
the report. Both say that the Obama administration has taken significant steps
to break through the "inertia" that has set into the bilateral relationship. The
report sites as examples of these steps the US-India strategic dialogue that took
place in Washington this spring and Obama's upcoming visit to India . "Yet there
remains a sense among observers in both countries that this critical relationship
is falling short of its promise," it adds. The report says it is critical to rejuvenate
the relationship and put US ties with India on a more solid foundation. "The United
States should establish a vision for what it seeks in the relationship and give
concrete meaning to the phrase 'strategic partnership,'" it recommends. Some of
the suggestions to invigorate US-India ties include: 1) The US must commit, publicly
and explicitly, to work with India in support of its permanent membership in an
enlarged United Nations Security Council. 2) The US should liberalise its export
controls, including the removal of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) subsidiaries
from the US Entity List. The authors of the report believe that changes to US
export control regulations would demonstrate a degree of mutual trust commensurate
with the ambitious goals of the strategic relationship. 3) A broad expansion of
bilateral trade and investment, starting with a Bilateral Investment Treaty. 4)
A greatly expanded security relationship and boosted defence trade. 5) The US
support for Indian membership in key export control organisations would be a step
towards integrating India into global nonproliferation efforts. The authors also
recommend that the US stop calling for India to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT) as a non-nuclear state. They say that India , too, would be required
to make a number of commitments and policy changes. These include taking rapid
action to fully implement the civil nuclear agreement; raising its caps on foreign
investment; reducing barriers to defence and other forms of trade; enhancing its
rules for protecting patents and other intellectual property; further harmonizing
its export control lists with multilateral regimes; and seeking closer cooperation
with the United States and like-minded partners in international organizations,
including the United Nations. Noting that India's rise to global power is in America's
strategic interest, the report's authors say the US should actively assist India's
emergence as a great power. They dismiss the notion that either the US or India
seeks containment of China, but say growing US-India strategic ties will ensure
that Asia will not have a vacuum of power and will make it easier for both Washington
and New Delhi to have productive relations with Beijing. Other areas of cooperation
recommended in the report include counter-terrorism; defence trade; regional issues
( Pakistan and Afghanistan ), liberalisation of the H-1B visa regime and climate
change. The authors conclude by saying: "The transformation of U.S. ties with
New Delhi over the past 10 years, led by Presidents Clinton and Bush, stands as
one of the most significant triumphs of recent American foreign policy. It has
also been a bipartisan success." "In order to chart a more ambitious U.S.-India
strategic partnership, we believe that the United States should commit, publicly
and explicitly, to work with India in support of its permanent membership in an
enlarged U.N. Security Council; seek a broad expansion of bilateral trade and
investment, greatly expand the security relationship and boost defense trade;
support Indian membership in key export control organizations, a step toward integrating
India into global nonproliferation efforts," they add. "Both India and the United
States have a vital interest in maintaining a stable balance of power in Asia
. Neither seeks containment of China , but the likelihood of a peaceful Chinese
rise increases if it ascends in a region where the great democratic powers are
also strong. Growing U.S.-India strategic ties will ensure that Asia will not
have a vacuum of power and will make it easier for both Washington and New Delhi
to have productive relations with Beijing ." "The United States and India should
work together to spread the culture of democracy in lands where it does not yet
exist."
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