Modi govt is quietly being pressed by the Biden administration to align with Western position on Russia
US lawmaker and a two-term Democrat from Massachusetts, Jake Auchincloss, has called on India to choose “team America” over Russia and China. Auchincloss is a key Congressional committee lawmaker on the increasingly contentious relationship with China.
On Wednesday Auchincloss said that he worries that India could become instead an “aggravating third factor” if it did not actually join up with Russia and China.
He is a member of the US House of Representatives’ Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the US and the Chinese Communist Party, which has the support and buy-in from both Republicans, who control the House, and Democrats, who have the White House and the Senate.
The Biden administration has been quietly pressing the Modi government to move closer to the Western position on Russia, abandoning its historical ties with the successor of the Soviet Union, which was a treaty ally.
Auchincloss’s remarks reflect growing “disappointment” — and he did use that word — with India’s position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and in fact, echo sentiments expressed by other policymakers and lawmakers.
Ro Khanna, one of four Indian-descent members of the US House of Representatives, was among the first to publicly call for India to choose between the US and Russia in 2022.
Criticism of India’s stance on the Russian invasion of Ukraine is hinged on two main factors. One is India’s refusal to condemn the invasion in unequivocal terms. And, two, continued Indian purchases of Russian oil and refusal to get in line with US-led Western boycott and sanctions.
Concessions to Russia, therefore, are seen as concessions to its partnership with China, both of whom have been declared adversaries by the US.
“Right now they’re importing huge amounts of Russian oil. It’s been a huge disappointment that they’ve undermined the price cap sanctions,” Auchincloss said of India’s oil purchases.
The US-led West does not see these purchases as purely opportunistic trade calls as India has tried to portray them — that a net importer of crude oil is buying up massive quantities of discounted Russian crude. They are, instead, a reflection of India’s historical suspicion of the West that shaped its foreign policy of non-alignment for decades in the 20th century.
“They’ve been historically nonaligned. We want them plugged into the US operating system, not the CCPs operating system,” Auchincloss said.
“They have every reason to be, as a democracy, fighting out in the Himalayas with the Chinese, they shouldn’t be on “team America”,” he added.
The lawmaker was on a panel discussion at Semafor news organizations’ inaugural World Economic Summit, held this time of the year to coincide with the World Bank Group‘s annual spring meetings.
Asked if he was worried India wouldn’t be on “team America”, the lawmaker said, “I’m worried that they won’t be there. At the very least they’ll be an aggravating third-party factor. So we got to work in India.”
US policymakers are cognisant, at the same time, of India’s long-time dependence on Russia for military hardware — everything from tanks to missiles to fighter jets to missile defence systems. They should be aware also, New Delhi hopes, of Russia’s unstinting support for India in the UN Security Council on many issues but chiefly Kashmir.
[With Inputs from IANS]
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