India flirts with US, but still eyes relationship with China
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India itself is planning a large number of hydroelectric and other projects in its northeast close to the border with China, and there is a feeling that the border dispute has prompted both governments to throw more money into this region.
But things are actually not that bad. Within India, there is a growing acceptance of a more nuanced view anchored in the notion of the US, India, and China sharing a triangular relationship. The three governments have been on a strange dance in the strategically important area of climate change.
For years, India and China have cooperated during UN negotiations in an attempt to force industrialized countries to do more to combat global warming. There they are squarely together against the US.
But these are the only two countries with which the US has signed strategic partnerships to promote clean and renewable technologies that will combat climate change. So there is one relationship at the bilateral level, another on the multilateral stage, and all three governments seem comfortable with this seeming paradox.
On the street, the new pragmatism comes through in conversations with ordinary Indian businessmen. What excites them is a triangular relationship between China, India and the US, which opens up immense possibilities.
In this rapidly changing world, forecasting is a tricky business. The shape of the relationship between India, China, and the US is difficult to predict with any certitude.
But one thing seems clear: With their growing economies, India and China are getting used to multiple suitors. And after the initial heady feeling of being wooed, they have also grasped that it does not always have to be one or the other.
They may have discovered that it is in their own interest to keep each suitor guessing.
The author is a journalist in New Dehli.patralekha.chatterjee@gmail.com
