India: What its Balancing Act is Communicating to the US and how the US should Adapt
Gabriella Fernandez
Staff Writer
India has become an increasingly prominent actor on the world stage and specifically to the United States. Holding the highest portion of the world’s population, it has become a target for economic development and technological advances. Two major partnerships have truly forced the world to focus on India’s role in the international system- the Quad and BRICS. BRICS itself has been brought up in discussions more frequently due to its increasing impact on international economics and recent expansion this past January. The Quad, functioning as a counterweight to China in the Indo-Pacific, includes the United States, Australia, India, and Japan. These two institutions are squarely within India’s national interest for their future global ambitions. However, both BRICS and the Quad, while fundamental to India, lie in contradiction to one another. This point of contention is where the U.S. needs to pay attention to the nuances and look to understand its growing relationship with India.
The U.S. and China are often at odds with each other, especially regarding economic relations. Furthermore, it is especially evident that China is eager to stir up support for an anti-west, anti-U.S. new world order that significantly limits western intervention and qualifications for help in the global south, as explained by the Atlantic Council. Some see BRICS heading in that direction, especially with the addition of Iran. India finds itself at a peculiar crosshair of this reality because it has maintained tense relations with China over the Himalayan border dispute yet wants to work with China to restructure the global economic system through BRICS. However, India also has pursued friendly relations with the U.S. over most of the past decade and works with the U.S. through the Quad to counter China’s growing presence in regional affairs. Regardless, Slovakia Jaishankar, India’s Minister of External Affairs, has stated within the past two years that India will not succumb to pressure to choose a side between China or the U.S. His reasoning being that India, holding one-fifth of the world’s population, should hold enough weight to establish its own perspective and independently act in the ways it sees as most beneficial to India as reported by the Stimson Center. This “Indo-centric” perspective clues the world in to how India is playing the foreign policy game.
First, it helps to understand India’s complex relationship with China, its neighbor along multiple parts of the Northwest border along the Himalya mountain range. They have held a well-known border dispute that manifested in multiple clashes in recent years. In June 2020, the first fatal battle occurred since 1975 resulting in 20 Indian and 4 Chinese deaths, reported by BBC. While efforts to deescalate have been made since December 2022 saw the first clash in over a year. The International Institute for Strategic Studies has analyzed that this has fed high tensions between the nations and made effective collaboration very difficult. This is compounded by the unequal trade relationship favoring China. In the 2023-2024 year, the Economic Times found that the trade deficit was at $101.75 billion. These factors continue to make India uncomfortable with China’s increasing power and leverage. The IISS labels the relationship between the two nations as one that yields “mutually exclusive prosperity and security.” This demonstrates how China’s rapid economic, developmental, and technological rise has made India feel insecure as a comparable competitor in the region. India additionally has goals of achieving an influential and central role in the future of economic relations and security in the world and specifically Southeast Asia. This situates the two as natural rivals to implement their view of what the evolving world order should look like, and they have diverging views.
These views have been brought to the surface as BRICS looks to expand and has been deciding how to further establish its role in the international economic order. It seems the one thing most members can agree on is pursuing a higher use of alternative and local currencies opposed to the U.S. dollar, resulting in what is known as dedollarization. After all, according to the Taiwan Center for Security Studies, the main function of BRICS is to strengthen and reform the multilateral system. As the Stimson Center further states, India has long held a goal of finding an alternative to the U.S. dominated financial system. If India had its way, it would not take the anti-west, anti-U.S. approach, evident in its growing relations with the U.S. and Quad. However, the Atlantic Council outlines how that differs from China’s desired function of BRICS. China has been pushing the Belt and Road Initiative, an infrastructure development initiative to finance development projects connecting Asia with the rest of the developing world, and Global Development Initiative, and wants BRICS to be an executor of its foreign policy agenda. Naturally, India has resisted this and has pushed for an approach where BRICS empowers South-South economic relations and gives the developing countries a better position in this system while still engaging and collaborating with the G7 and other Western powers. It remains to be seen the direction BRICS will take, but it would be in the United States’s interest if India were successful with establishing its approach. This is also a promising outcome given the appeal this approach has to many developing nations who do not want to make enemies out of the U.S. or China, as further addressed by the Atlantic Council.
These India-China dynamics within BRICS are also complicated by the relationship Russia has with both nations. Russia fully backs and buys into the anti-west rhetoric as it has become extremely scrutinized by the West for its war in Ukraine and continued arms dealing to controversial actors. The Council on Foreign Relations has explained how this agreed upon enemy of the West has pushed China and Russia close in recent years in a strategic partnership with “no limits.” While India disagrees with this approach, it has still maintained solid ties with Russia because of its military dependence on Russian equipment. The Stimson Center reports that 50 percent of India’s equipment is Russian, and this adds to the fact that India buys Russian oil. India reached a record of importing 2.1 million bpd (barrels per day) in May 2024, according to Reuters. This explains India’s neutrality in the Russia-Ukraine war- another balancing act of India’s interests. As the war does not immediately effect India, it sees no need to choose a side as either choice could risk major negative consequences. This is a manifestation of the Indo-centric philosophy India is working to pursue in its foreign relations.
India has successfully managed being a member of the Quad and member of BRICS for years, a seemingly tricky feat. This has been accomplished via its Indo-centric policy approach. India has benefitted from large economic growth thanks to BRICS and has forged allies in its fight against Chinese overreach thanks to the Quad. While India still cooperates with China often, it is selective about the ways it does. For example, as the Diplomat highlights, India uses the New Development Bank of BRICS to meet many needs for its developmental goals because it is better than borrowing straight from China directly. Unfortunately, China’s recent rise and military actions have been pushing India farther and farther away from consensus and agreement in BRICS. Due to the resurgence of confrontations on the Himalayan border and China’s actions in the South China Sea, India is feeling a greater security threat from its neighbor than it has previously highlighted by the Asia Society. With India feeling a greater need to counter China’s presence in the region, it finds value in turning to Western nations with the same goals.
The U.S. and India have truly worked to grow their ties and relations within the past decade. The administrations of former U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. President Joe Biden have recognized the value in India as an ally and approached such relations in an effective way. Specifically, President Biden’s National Security Council has established new initiatives with Indian counterparts such as an initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCet) in January 2023 and the India-U.S. Defense Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) in June 2023 reports the Carnegie Endowment. Both programs work to further tie together US and Indian efforts in these areas to build trust and greater economic ties. These are not the only examples though, as the Stimson Center discusses how India and the U.S. have additionally pursued cooperation within security and other fields.
Furthermore, they report how India is now able to cooperate with U.S. Central Command and U.S. Africa Command in addition to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command of the military. This will open the avenues for greater strategic military cooperation and interoperability which is particularly needed to counter China. Jake Sullivan, Biden’s National Security Advisor, has stated how the U.S. is looking to play the “long game” with India as recorded by the Carnegie Endowment. This points to how even though the U.S. and India hold differing views on things like the Russia-Ukraine war and use of the U.S. dollar in trading, the U.S. is willing to work around these differences and focus on the commonalities. India has been approaching this in the same way by looking to collaborate with other actors based on what they have in common, what the Stimson Center identifies as multi-alignment. This is how it has been able to balance relations with the U.S. and China without picking sides.
If the U.S. continues in this way, it shows great potential for a strong allyship. The key to this relationship would be to focus on the long game. If the U.S. tries to force India’s hand in any way it would likely backfire and make India withdraw more. However, if both sides maintain respect for the others’ decisions on what is best for their own country, relations can flourish. This is because the U.S. and India share many common interests in technological development and security goals. This relationship can also be a sign of the shift in the international system. As BRICS continues to evolve and become more prominent, the way countries approach economic relations and trade will have to adapt. If actors are paying attention, it seems the path of mutual respect can be successful and allow developing nations to forge their way by their own choices and not those of states with established spheres of influence. If there is an understanding that certain actions and powers need to be balanced, the system can begin to reform and emerge successfully for a new global age.
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