India’s strategy for engaging with new partners amid strained relations with the US.
Sinderpal Singh, an expert on South Asian issues and regional security architecture at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, in an interview with the News Asia news channel, referred to the recent tensions between New Delhi and Washington and India’s new approach towards regional countries and stated: New Delhi, within the framework of multipolar world policies, is seeking to form a multipolar Asia, where no power can dominate the region.
Emphasizing the challenges facing India and China in border issues and influence in South Asia, he added: New Delhi is trying to take steps towards becoming a great power by creating a broad coalition of partners and friends in its interaction with East and West Asian countries.
In this regard, Singh referred to the recent meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping after a seven-year hiatus and emphasized that this meeting was a clear sign of improving bilateral relations, Especially considering that tensions between the two countries have been ongoing since the military confrontation on the shared border and limited clashes since 2020.
However, India’s relations with the US have taken an opposite path.
Stating that the good relationship between US President Donald Trump and Modi was considered an advantage for reducing US tariffs on Indian products, the expert clarified that the imposition of a 50% tariff on oil purchases from Russia brought bilateral relations to an all-time low and created the basis for increasing anti-American sentiment within India.
Therefore, in such circumstances, India moved towards practical and reliable partnerships in order to maintain its maneuverability in foreign relations and not be forced to make binary choices.
Singh continued his statement by referring to Trump’s new policies and said that Washington has directly pressured countries to accept its trade conditions, and this action has created new grounds for countries to resist a binary view of the world.