Obama’s Appearance at India’s Republic Day Sends Message to China
http://www.wsj.com/articles/obamas-appearance-at-indias-republic-day-sends-message-to-china-1422245039?mod=trending_now_3
NEW DELHI—U.S. President Barack Obama joined Indian leaders at a parade here Monday as the world’s second-most-populous nation shows off its military modernization efforts and cultural diversity.
Mr. Obama’s attendance is meant to be an important display of solidarity between the world’s two largest democracies in the face of an increasingly assertive, well-armed and authoritarian China that is shifting the balance of power in Asia.
The U.S. president’s three-day visit to India during the country’s symbolically important Republic Day celebrations marks a significant deepening in relations between the two countries amid mounting geopolitical tensions globally.
On Sunday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that Mr. Obama’s visit “reflects the transformation of our relationship,” and said New Delhi and Washington “are prepared to step forward firmly to accept the responsibility of this global partnership—for our two countries and for the shaping the character of this century.”
This is the first time India—which spent much of the Cold War espousing nonalignment and nurturing ties with Russia as the U.S. cultivated New Delhi’s rivals, Pakistan and China—has invited an American head of state for the event.
Mr. Obama’s acceptance is a sign of renewed U.S. hope that India, under the leadership of a new government elected last year, will be able to achieve the sustained economic development that has long eluded it but is critical if the country is ever to become an effective strategic counterweight to China.
After a summit meeting between Messrs. Obama and Modi on Sunday, the two leaders said they would deepen defense cooperation, increasing joint exercises between the two countries’ armies and navies. They also agreed to work to jointly develop and produce defense technologies.
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the countries would form working groups to explore aircraft-carrier technology sharing as well as work on jet engines.
India has been working to upgrade its defense equipment, which for years was mostly supplied first by the Soviet Union and then Russia. Over the past three budget years, however, India has purchased more weapons from the U.S. than from Moscow.
Monday’s parade featured flybys by a Boeing Co. -made P-8I antisubmarine-warfare plane and a Lockheed Martin C-130J transport, which India has made a point of landing at a high-altitude airstrip to demonstrate its ability to rush troops and equipment to the country’s Himalayan border with China.
Among the other military hardware on display: Russian warplanes and homegrown missiles that are being deployed in northeastern India.
India, while trying to deepen commercial ties with China to fuel its own economy, is deeply distrustful of Beijing, with which it has competing territorial claims. New Delhi also resents China’s rising aid-driven influence among its South Asian neighbors and Beijing’s greater naval presence in the Indian Ocean.
Last autumn, more than 2,000 Indian and Chinese troops faced off each other for weeks near a remote Himalayan village near the two countries’ disputed border—the biggest and most serious such confrontation in decades. There was shoving and shouting, but no shooting.
India has been working for years to improve roads and other infrastructure in border areas in an effort to catch up with improvements on the Chinese side. Mr. Modi has vowed to accelerate the push. With both sides now able to move soldiers more quickly and easily, analysts warn, there is a rising risk of clashes.
In some ways it is surprising that Mr. Modi, a politician with deep Hindu nationalist roots would be so eager to strengthen bonds with Washington. The U.S. denied Mr. Modi a visa after allegations that he didn’t do enough to stop religious rioting in Gujarat, the state he governed in 2002. Hundreds of Muslims died.
Successive U.S. administrations avoided senior-level contacts with Mr. Modi. It wasn’t until early last year, as his political prospects brightened, that the U.S. dispatched the American ambassador to India on a mission to patch up relations. Mr. Modi and his party were elected in a landslide and took office in May.
Mr. Modi won after promising the country’s frustrated citizenry that he would revive the country’s ailing economy, which has lagged far behind China and largely failed to industrialize along the export-oriented path blazed by East Asian nations. Mr. Modi has also sought a bigger role for India in global affairs.
The question for some American policy makers is: Can India step up. “If the Indian economy can’t get more traction, it will be hard for the country to have a more important role in the region or the world,” said one Obama administration official. “This is a moment and everyone is looking for action.”
With the success of Mr. Obama’s pivot to Asia and the U.S.’s future role in the region partially dependent on the outcome, U.S. officials say they are eager to help Mr. Modi in his efforts to attract investment, build infrastructure, lift people from poverty and make the country’s economy strong.
—Santanu Choudhury contributed to this article.
Write to Gordon Fairclough at gordon.fairclough@wsj.com
Obama Attends India's Republic Day Parade
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