Do you think that India has turned to defensive mode as a lever of foreign policy? Examine (200 Words)
Refer - Business Standard
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 5 years
KEY POINTS
· In this environment, even US offered to mediate between India and Pakistan on Kashmir, holding publicly, in India of all places, that there were two sides to the question — something that the American establishment had not done for years.
· Starting in 2002, it has also led to the purchase of over $20 billion of military hardware from America (mainly aircraft), and some important bilateral agreements which will facilitate not just logistics exchange but also transfer of technology, though much of this latter has yet to be seen;
· Japan is now a regular participant in the trilateral Malabar exercises at sea.
While the Indo-Pacific has been repeatedly proclaimed as a theatre of mutual interest, what is left unsaid is that our understanding of the term is different and there is no precise identification of purpose, leaving aside “freedom of movement at sea”.
· With no other country with which India has defence cooperation at sea — for example, France, the United Kingdom, and Russia — does the term Indo-Pacific form the basis of cooperation. Indeed, the last-named has publicly derided this concept and this, too, at a MEA-sponsored conference in our own country.
· So, the one significant element of our defence diplomacy in the last decade has been the relationship with the US, and has essentially revolved on our purchases of military hardware from them.
