The US National Security Strategy released last week is very different from that of the first Trump administration, says Arun Singh, India’s former ambassador to Washington DC. In a conversation on The Gist, he pointed to the very critical references to China in the last report and the positive attention India received.
This time there is the frank description of China as the “near peer” of the US, an admission that Beijing has leverages that it has used successfully against America and its allies.
“There are several references to why the US needs to guard against the predatory economic policies of China and the excess capacities the Chinese have built up. It has criticised past administrations for allowing China to build up this capacity and looking the other way,” Ambassador Singh said.
There are also references to the challenge that China poses in the Indo-Pacific and there are direct or implied to the challenges in keeping the sea lanes open in the South China Sea.
References to India are muted but are there.
“The U.S needs to build its commercial and other relationship with India, so that India is able to contribute better to the security architecture and the security in the Indo-Pacific, and that also look at cooperation through the Quad framework.”
Singh noted that the relationship with India is useful for the US in terms of dealing with the challenges in the Indo-Pacific theater. And they’ve said that they’d like to build the relationship with India so that India could contribute more towards security in the Pacific. Critical minerals and rare earths are another area of cooperation.
The big change could be with regard to Russia, which is no longer deemed a threat to the US. Signals of this kind have been there since Trump 1.0 and he has been able to implement it in his second term.
Having said that, nothing about this national security document is cast in stone. Each administration is required to lay out its security concerns and challenges early in its tenure. This could change with the new administration.
Tune in for more in this conversation with Arun Singh, former ambassador to the US.
Thirty eight years in journalism, widely travelled, history buff with a preference for Old Monk Rum. Current interest/focus spans China, Technology and Trade. Recent reads: Steven Colls Directorate S and Alexander Frater's Chasing the Monsoon. Netflix/Prime video junkie. Loves animal videos on Facebook. Reluctant tweeter.
