India faces challenge of deciding strategic ties with US, China: US India Business Council

[Hindustani78]

By PTI | 7 Jul, 2015, 04.55PM IST
India faces challenge of deciding strategic ties with US, China: USIBC - The Economic Times

HOUSTON: India is facing a challenge to decide how much it should "align" with the US in its strategic bilateral ties while "managing" China at the same time, a prominent US-India business body has said.

Citing the recent docking of Chinese submarines at the Karachi port and China's plans to invest $46 billion in Pakistan, president US India Business Council (USIBC) Mukesh Aghi said India's challenge is the dilemma of aligning with the US and managing China at the same time.

"India would have to decide how much to align with the US and how to manage China with which it also has a border dispute. China would challenge India in every respect and would keep India occupied by funding Pakistan," Aghi said.

Describing China as a "hard threat", Aghi said Russia was aligning itself with China and Japan was becoming much more defensive as a result of which America needed allies for its leadership role in the global order.

The India-China border dispute and China's retaliatory gesture of supporting Pakistan are also major causes for concern, he said.

"US, in turn, is following a strategy of managing China's rise without conflict, a peaceful withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and maritime security in the Pacific," Aghi said while addressing a luncheon meeting organised by Indo American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston (IACCGH) here last week.

The Indo-US trade would grow to $500 billion in the next five years, he said.

Aghi said the growing rapport between President Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the growing trust between the two democracies has led to several positive outcomes such as cooperation in cybersecurity, nuclear energy, healthcare and a trade target of $500 billion in the next five years.

Describing India as a country that is an "opportunity as well as a challenge", Aghi said that there were a million new job entrants every year in India for whom jobs needed to be created.

In the next 10 years, an estimated 400 million Indians will move from rural to urban areas necessitating infrastructure, he said.

 

[Kaniska]

India should not allign with any one...In particular to US....US will use and it when it needs..Apart from Europe, US never stands up for any other nation in the hour of crisis..We have differences with China, but that does not mean, we should allign with US to fight with China..

 

[Donatello]

There is no such thing as Strategic ties with USA. Pakistan and Iran are two examples in your immediate region. USA will do and help only when it betters their own cause. Because they are thousands of miles away, it really isn't strategic.
Economics and business relationship is a whole different thing and should not be taken for 'Strategic ties'

 

[Hindustani78]

India should not allign with any one...In particular to US....US will use and it when it needs..Apart from Europe, US never stands up for any other nation in the hour of crisis..We have differences with China, but that does not mean, we should allign with US to fight with China..

India is the only country which can compete with China when it comes to economy and even military.

When India and China competes with each other , this would let developing countries to get basic products in affordable rates which reduces poverty.



According to the final report on the Millennium Development Goals, Southern Asia has made remarkable progress in moving towards the achievement of the MDGs in some areas.

The report states that the world’s most populous countries, China and India, have played a central role in the global reduction of poverty. But increased efforts are needed in many other areas, the report cautions.