Joe Biden and India

In President-elect Joe Biden, India will have a thoughtful American President. An American President who will conduct foreign policy with care, dignity and vision. The American policy will be process-driven and evidence-based.

President-elect Joe Biden, more than any recent President including Barack Obama, has great regard for careful and methodical processes. After all, Joe Biden was a US Senator for over 35 years.

That’s good news for India. It is always better when policies are based on analytical grounding, rather than personal chemistry or whims or fancies.

Perhaps the most important India-centric policy in the last 20 years is US-India Civil Nuclear Agreement, which was signed in 2008. Though India was not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the agreement provided it the benefits enjoyed by other leading nuclear power nations.

More than nuclear technology, the Civil Agreement gave India an opportunity to demonstrate to the global community that India was/is a responsible and serious partner in global alliances and community. Over the last decade, India has demonstrated extra-ordinary care with nuclear technology.

India has now become a welcome partner in serious global alliances.

President-elect Joe Biden supported the India-US Civil Nuclear Agreement in the Senate, and then worked with President Barack Obama to further strengthen and improve the agreement.

So, India should feel reassured.

As some would observe, “Personnel is policy.” The two key foreign policy advisers to President-elect Joe Biden are Anthony Blinken and Nicholas Burns. Blinken is likely to Biden’s Secretary of State or National Security Adviser. Nicholas Burns, too, will have substantial impact on Biden administration foreign policy.

Tony Blinken is known for building global alliances. And he believes the China is a serious competitor-rival. And to compete/confront China, the US must build alliances. Tony Blinken is intent on organizing a strong Indo-Pacific alliance. And India will have an organic role in this.

Nicholas Burns was the point person for the US-India Civil Agreement. He is the one (along with Secretary Condoleeza Rice and President George W. Bush) who worked out all the details, and made it happen.

So, in Joe Biden and the counsel that he keeps, India’s interests will be protected because India is a natural ally of the United States.

Joe Biden will , of course, be hoping for more from India in terms of both perceived and real challenges/issues — be it in Kashmir or in India’s western and eastern locales.