Source: Indian Express

Between the warm hug of United States President Barack Obama on a cold morning at the Palam airport and small talk over cups of tea under a balmy afternoon sun at the Hyderabad House today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has begun to rewrite the script of India-U.S. relations. The PM’s day in office with Obama was full of surprises from the moment Modi chose to break protocol and personally receive Obama at the airport.

The PM’s moves today included a decisive resolution of some of the outstanding issues, setting of new strategic goals, including more effective cooperation with US to securing the balance of power in Asia and defeating terrorism in the subcontinent and beyond.

If wrapping up the unfinished business of civil nuclear cooperation show-cased Modi, the PM’s quest for common ground with Obama on climate change suggested Delhi was no longer shackled by sterile slogans of the past.

The outlines of a mutual understanding on implementing the civil nuclear initiative emerged in the last few weeks, as Delhi opened purposeful negotiations with the U.S. on resolving three issues at hand — US concerns about India’s nuclear liability act, India’s demand for a quick closure on the terms of international safeguards, and Washington’s support for India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

If a nuclear deal that satisfied both sides was on the cards, few observers in Delhi were prepared for today’s developments on climate change, which has long been a site of confrontation between India and the United States.

In a city where the virtuousness of India’s international policies are measured by their political distance from the United States, Modi promised to “cooperate closely” with America to conclude an ambitious global climate agreement at the end of this year in Paris.

With Obama standing next to him at the joint press appearance, Modi said India’s problem was not about resisting pressure form America on climate change. Sovereign India was confident enough, Modi suggested, to handle it.

India’s real pressures today, Modi said, were about protecting the environment for future generations of Indians from the threats of climate change and global warming.

The PM’s new approach to climate change is centered around deepening bilateral cooperation with the US on renewable energy and developing cooperation with it in multilateral forums. Under Modi, Delhi’s entrenched ‘third worldism’ is yielding place to the idea of India as a responsible power.

If he chose to upturn India’s extended posturing on climate change, Modi outlined his plans for a potentially significant partnership with America in shaping the future of the vast Indo-Pacific region that stretches from East Africa to East Asia.

To be sure, promoting Asian balance of power was at the heart of the transformation of the India-US relations in the first term of the UPA government. In the second term, though, the UPA government deliberately began to distance itself from Washington in the name of ‘strategic autonomy’ and ‘non-alignment’. In its second incarnation, the UPA government was also reluctant to deepen maritime security cooperation with the US in the Indian Ocean.

In his statement with Obama on the joint vision for Asia Pacific and the Indian Ocean, Modi decisively repudiated that ambivalence towards the United States. The two leaders also agreed to “develop a roadmap that leverages our respective efforts to increase ties among Asian powers, enabling both our nations to better respond” to the emerging diplomatic, economic and security challenges in the region.

If the UPA was reluctant to embark on trilateral and quadrilateral partnerships with the United States, Modi and and Obama have put the idea of building Asian coalitions at the centre of their regional strategy.

The UPA government justified its American ambivalence by citing Chinese concerns. Modi appears a lot more self-assured in navigating the great power rivalries in Asia and unafraid of building its comprehensive national power in collaboration with America.

Modi’s bet on more intensive strategic partnership with America has been reinforced by a revised and more ambitious framework for defence cooperation that the two leaders approved today. They also identified a number of weapons projects for co-development and co-production.

Equally important is the determination of the two leaders to expand bilateral cooperation on counter terrorism and homeland security. Of particular interest was their emphasis on “joint and concerted efforts to disrupt entities such as Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, D Company and the Haqqani Network.

This article was originally published in the Indian Express.