U.S. Recalculation: China’s Rise As A Rival, India’s Role As A Friend

NEW DELHI: On ‘Talking Point‘, Seema Sirohi, Author, ‘Friends with Benefits: The India-U.S. Story’, Columnist, ‘The Economic Times‘ in conversation with StratNews Global Associate Editor Amitabh P. Revi.

“India on the wrong side of history.” That’s the U.S. White House in March 2022 on India buying discounted Russian oil after the invasion of Ukraine. That’s also President Bill Clinton post New Delhi’s nuclear tests in 1998, when the U.S. came down heavily with sanctions on India. In this interview, Seema Sirohi, talks about her thirty-plus years reporting from Washington, D.C. and her book that “takes the reader back to the twilight years of the Cold War and charts the diplomatic journey of what is today a defining geopolitical relationship.” From a General Dynamics possible 1991 war scenario briefing of raining down 190 cruise missiles on India, that the journalist broke as a story, to the “arc of the India-U.S. relationship bending towards friendship despite the bumps along the way”, Seema Sirohi aims “to fill the gaps in a narrative that is often set in the West and is often one-sided.”

On ‘Talking Point’, she also discusses the China-U.S. rivalry, the realisation of Beijing’s intent, the hesitations of history, India’s trust issues with America, the not-so-peaceful rise of China, the China-Pakistan nexus, U.S. double standards, the nuclear deal, the Quad, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the personalities that changed the India-U.S. relationship for good and bad, the Indian diaspora, and the trajectory of ties in the future.

Seema Sirohi’s book is available for pre-order and releases on January 19, 2023.