Preliminary work done, Modi government ready to deal with incoming Biden administration | Analysis – editorials


The White House will have a new occupant shortly. What does this mean for India? The Modi government’s connection to President-elect Joe Biden dates back to the days when Foreign Affairs S. Jaishankar was India’s ambassador to the United States during the Obama administration and the current ambassador to the United States, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, was his attached. The two have kept in touch with close advisers to President-elect Biden ensuring that the United States maintains its bipartisan consensus toward India.

As for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he runs foreign policy with personal contact with Indian interests as a top priority. He only resigns from a country or an institution after the latter shows duplicity in bilateral relations.

There are no points for guessing the countries in that category.

While Indian foreign policy will have to recalibrate its approach to the incoming Biden administration, New Delhi knows that the president-elect is a collegiate guy, who was more accessible to Republican adversaries as a vice president than the president during the Obama years. . A quintessential politician who spent more than half his life in Washington and knows the disputes on Capitol Hill.

Unlike President Trump, who hid his strategy behind cheeky style, the incoming president will be more predictable in his dealings with the world. He is expected to be tough but not to confront China, to fix relations with Europe and to be a bit tough with Russia.

Despite Chinese experts gloating over President Trump’s defeat, the American system now firmly believes that Beijing is not only an adversary, but also a threat to the future. Therefore, grandiloquent statements against the Communist Party of China should not be expected during the Biden era, but US policy on China has taken a complete turnaround and there should be a buildup in the Asia turn that was promised but not realized. handed over in the Obama administration. Trump, for his part, may be down but not out and will campaign for the Senate runoff in Georgia to remain politically relevant in the Republican Party.

Pakistan, China’s all-weather ally, also sighed in relief at the departure of President Trump, but New Delhi believes the incoming administration will be tough on terrorism, particularly after recent Islamist attacks on Europe by immigrants. The president-elect will continue the previous policy of leaving Afghanistan, but that will not be easy, as US intelligence agencies and the Pentagon (Trump dismissed his advice) have been reporting escalating Taliban violence with the support of the Haqqani network and the Quetta base. Shura with direct participation of the deep state of Pakistan.

As the president-elect is expected to work with expert advice on Afghanistan, then the role of the British, who are tied to Pakistan, may diminish in the near future. Islamabad’s double game in Afghanistan is now known to its former friends like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia with evidence. Indeed, Pakistan’s problem may multiply if President-elect Biden has a very poor opinion of Islamabad’s new ally, Turkey.

Iran’s belief that US sanctions can be lifted by the incoming Biden administration’s hitching on Europe in a nuclear deal with Tehran may come true as the new administration moves toward multilateralism, which was scorned by the current one. Trump administration. As the US is expected to seek a deal with Europe on global issues such as climate change and health due to the ongoing pandemic, worn out ties with Germany will be on the mend. America’s ties with Russia are expected to decline further under the incoming administration.

While New Delhi will wait until January 2021 for a formal engagement with the new administration, it appears more confident in dealing with the new occupant of the White House.

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