Here’s Ved Shinde’s assessment of India’s view of a “multipolar world” at Geopolitical Monitor:
It is in the last decade that India’s strategic illusions are clearing. China has secured its position as India’s primary challenge. A series of clashes at the Himalayan border and Beijing’s growing influence in South Asia have convinced Delhi that Beijing is its primary preoccupation. China’s all-weather partnership with Pakistan, economic undercutting of India, and expansive maritime ambitions have created suspicions about China’s long-term motivations in Delhi.
Now when India calls for a “multipolar world,†it makes it abundantly clear that a multipolar Asia is a necessary prerequisite for a multipolar world. In essence, the Asian order is fragmented. The phenomenal rise of China does not mean that Beijing can act like the local mafia. Asia is a playground of contestation, with various emerging and middle powers quietly protective of their identity and sovereignty. The U.S. and India are working together to uphold this reality and ensure stability.
Delhi has also realized that the U.S. is essential for its economic growth. American capital and technology are crucial for India’s transformation. India’s fate in the upcoming decades is inextricably tied to the United States, with or without China as its neighbor.
I find that puzzling. Is that actually how India is behaving? Also how is the balancing act he describes possible? In a multipolar world is India place solidly at the U. S.’s side or not?
I see India in pursuit of its own sphere of influence in Asia more than Mr. Shinde seems to. And what about the episodic border conflicts between China and India? To my eye they constitute the same course on land that China is pursuing in the Yellow Sea.
