Will U.S. Endorse, Midwife INFRUS—India, France Nuclear Compact—In Common Cause To Constrain China?

NEW DELHI: On ‘Talking Point‘, Dr Ashley J. Tellis, Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Author, ‘Striking Asymmetries: Nuclear Transitions in Southern Asia’ in conversation with StratNews Global Associate Editor Amitabh P. Revi.

Dr Tellis discusses his new report that “take stock of the developments in China, India and Pakistan, especially given the transformation of China’s own nuclear deterrent”. In the study, the Tata Chair and Senior Fellow, Carnegie writes, “the Sino-Indian border crisis that exploded unexpectedly in May 2020 and is still ongoing only validated the necessity of examining the nuclear capabilities in all three countries—and especially the interactions between them” and attempts “to map the entirety of the transformations visible in each of the three countries’ nuclear deterrents all the way from the ideational elements down to the nuts and bolts that characterize their evolving forces”. Since “China remains the dominant nuclear power, given its ambitions to challenge the United States as the global hegemon” one of his conclusions is that since “U.S. competition with China finds India in an analogous position to that of France during the Cold War, Washington’s choices could help India to develop a powerful nuclear deterrent that durably protects its ability to balance Chinese power in ways that ultimately benefit the United States in Asia and globally”. Watch this interview for more.