Recent newspaper reports about the deepening Indo-US military collaboration cannot but raise concern in different countries of the South Asian region for its changing nature. None would perhaps feel anything to object so much about such cooperation if the same was dictated by reasonable mutual needs. But reportedly, the collaboration will probably now enable India to produce weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) or to help it to fine tune its delivery systems of such WMDs. This is the aspect which creates the biggest concern and question mark though the same remain mainly the outcome of speculative reporting in the media.
Both the US and India have democratic governments and there can be, thus, no serious misgiving about such major democratic countries collaborating in areas of conventional arms. But the questions would be asked by defence analysts round the world whether India, a country with a poor per capita income, should be developing its military might or concentrate on economic development. Its arsenals of nuclear weapons and the sizes of its armies and navies that make them the fourth biggest in the world, have raised questions about their application or justification specially in the backdrop of its poverty.
Its unending confrontation with neighbouring Pakistan and the apprehension of a nuclear exchange between the two countries has made South Asia a major security concern in the world. Earlier, the US had applied military and economic sanctions on both India and Pakistan when they first test detonated their nuclear weapons. But now the US government wants to help India to become a superpower as the media reports maintain. It has recently offered to sell top of the shelf warplanes and other armaments to both India and Pakistan raising worry about a heightened arms race in the region as a consequence of such military sales.
The developed countries and the United Nations remain committed to the non proliferation of WMD possessing countries . India cannot be an exception in this goal of non proliferation. But it seems, the US is not only about to relax this goal in relation to India, it could itself directly violate a principle of non proliferation of WMDs by enabling their acquisition and fine tuning of their delivery systems by India.
The neighbouring countries of India will no doubt be alarmed by such Indo-US cooperation in the areas of weapons production. Pakistan, for
instance, will very likely be tempted to match India’s new capacities and this could trigger a worse arms race. China would feel uneasy and insecure and also India’s smaller neighbours with which India does not enjoy good neighbourly relations or friendliness. The Indian foreign policy– to be backed up by its awesome military might– is considered as hegemonistic by its neighbours. In these circumstances, the US administration would do well to rethink its defence collaboration with India specially collaboration in the sphere of WMDs.
Wider and greater military cooperation the present US Administration is thinking about can be excused as all right seen in the background of changing geostrategic balance and the practical need to create some balance in the geostrategic calculations. But it is expected that the US would not mistakenly create more imbalance than balance in the geostrategic equation by its latest posturing.