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Competing Visions of India in World Politics This page intentionally left blank Competing Visions of India in World Politics India’s Rise Beyond the West Edited by Kate Sullivan Lecturer in Modern Indian Studies, University of Oxford, UK Palgrave macmillan Selection, introduction, conclusion and editorial matter © Katie Helen Sullivan 2015 Individual chapters © Respective authors 2015 Foreword © Ranjan Mathai 2015 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-39865-9 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-67982-9 ISBN 978-1-137-39866-6 ()eBook DOI 10.1057/9781137398666 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Competing visions of India in world politics : India’s rise beyond the West/edited by Kate Sullivan. pages cm 1. India—Foreign relations. I. Sullivan, Kate, 1980– DS480.853.C68 2015 327.54—dc23 2015003643 Contents List of Figures vii Foreword viii Acknowledgements xiv Notes on Contributors xvi List of Abbreviations xviii Introduction: Creating Diversity in Readings of India’s Global Role 1 Kate Sullivan 1 India’s Ambivalent Projection of Self as a Global Power: Between Compliance and Resistance 15 Kate Sullivan 2 Chinese Views of a Nuclear India: From the 1974 Peaceful Nuclear Explosion to the Nuclear Suppliers Group Waiver in 2008 34 Nicola Horsburgh 3 India in Climate Change: The View from Tokyo 49 Yuka Kobayashi 4 Just Another Regional Superpower? A Cautious South Korea Watches India’s Rise 66 Danielle Chubb 5 From Imperial Subjects to Global South Partners: South Africa, India and the Politics of Multilateralism 79 Christopher J. Lee 6 What Does ‘Development Cooperation’ Mean? Perceptions from India and Africa 94 David Harris and Simona Vittorini 7 The ‘Eastern Brother’: Brazil’s View of India as a Diplomatic Partner in World Trade 111 Vinícius Rodrigues Vieira v vi Contents 8 ‘The Other Pacifist’: Mexican Views on India’s Quest for Great-Power Status 128 Gilberto Estrada Harris 9 India in the Iranian Imagination: Between Culture and Strategic Interest 145 Arshin Adib-Moghaddam 10 Views of India from the Conflicting Parties in Syria 160 Omar Sharaf 11 Russian Views of India in the Context of Afghanistan 175 Natasha Kuhrt Conclusion 190 Kate Sullivan Bibliography 202 Index 229 Figures 3.1 Total AIJs and CDMs under UNFCCC by host country 56 3.2 Japanese CDMs by host country 57 7.1 Relationship between state identity, interests and diplomatic practice 121 vii Foreword India’s emergence as a free nation in the mid-twentieth century was seen in the West as the arrival of another state actor in Asia—a rela- tively weak state, its power potential circumscribed by circumstances of division and discord, and hence limited to South Asia. In India itself our assumption was that independence marked the beginning of the end of an era of Western dominance and the gradual opening of a new order in which Asia, Africa and Latin America would change the terms of their interaction with the world’s dominant powers, rediscover old relationships among themselves and play a role in the world commensu- rate with their size, potential and historical legacies. As an independent actor, India first had to deal with the danger of the Cold War, and our response was to work towards Afro-Asian solidarity, non-alignment and the gradual development of the so-called South—the G77 plus China. Fundamentally, the aims of foreign policy were peace and solidarity as requirements for India’s own domestic transformation. The imperative of economic development required peace, cooperation and global con- sensus against imperial intervention; respect for national sovereignty; security consistent with low military expenditure; and greater flows of finance and technology from outside to hasten growth. In the post- Cold War era, India sought to build on the emergence of multi-polarity, however inchoate, to retain room for manoeuvre while adhering to the earlier goals in a broad sense. Of course, as practitioners of statecraft and diplomacy we had to, and have to, deal with the world as it is, not just as we would like it to be. Inevitably, there were adjustments which required both the vision and steps taken to attain them. These adjustments show up less starkly now, since the world is changing with growth in East Asia, and the emergence of BRICS, and gradually altering perceptions of India’s capabilities and its role. India’s global role and its attitude towards an international society of the future are still marked by these characteristics, but this has changed to suit the new circum- stances of our time. Many of the chapters in the book usefully explore how other states are responding both to these changes and to India’s long-standing goals and policies. India’s aspirations—indeed those of the Global South—can achieve fruition only when the institutions of the world order are re-structured to reflect the power shifts of the last half century. It is in our attempt viii Foreword ix to build an order more reflective of the world today, that India’s global role is best understood by those seeking to understand the relationships between increasingly influential states which are innovating, shap- ing and creating international institutions and processes as they work together for their own interests. There is scope for a qualitatively much more active role for India in a multi-polar world with greater eco- nomic integration and a gradually changing world order, as many of the authors in this book suggest. For India, the maintenance of constructive and close relations with the United States, Japan, Russia, Europe and China is essential, and we have successfully institutionalised vital elements of these relationships. It should be noted, however, that our neighbourhood equally consti- tutes a priority that is constant. To focus on the relationships covered by the chapters in this book, modern-day Russia is, and will continue to be, a privileged and strategic partner. It is still critical to India as a supplier of defence equipment. Our relations in civil nuclear energy, space and high technology remain vital. Fortunately, relations in other domains are also growing rapidly. Bilateral trade has grown fast to more than $12 billion. The Russian focus on Asia is of significance for India, and the institutionalised annual summits are of great importance to both of us in dealing with a world in flux. India’s global role is often commented upon in comparison with that of China. Clearly, the extraordinary growth of the Chinese economy; its trade and technological prowess; its financial reach; its presence in the Security Council; and its hard power attributes give China an extensive and prominent role worldwide. India does not view this role as nec- essarily limiting its own; there are elements of both competition and complementarity in our bilateral relationship. The task of policymakers is to ensure that the complementarities are worked on to mutual bene- fit, and competition should be constrained by a respect for each other’s interests and concerns. One chapter in the book looks at Chinese views on a nuclear India. This is of particular interest, as the subject goes to the core of whether China will take a modern-day ‘Journey to the West’ and relate to India as civilisational equals. Chinese scholars once viewed India as the original home of Buddhism with great spiritual traditions, but by allusion, also as a country with high levels of achievement in the temporal world, similar to those they lived with at home. After the difficulties of the 1960s and 1970s, our relations have moved steadily forward. India and China have worked together on international issues (the BASIC group was an example of success) and are engaged in regular dialogue on our respective priorities. x Foreword Friendship between India and Japan has a long history rooted in spir- itual affinity with strong cultural and civilisational ties. We are both democracies with a growing mutually beneficial economic and com- mercial relationship, as well as with a strong conviction of the need for institutional structures for maintaining peace and security in Asia. India regards its relationship with Japan as being of particular significance for its industrial growth, and Prime Minister Abe’s vision of the ‘confluence’ of the Pacific and the Indian Oceans has helped us work though differ- ences on nuclear issues, and the climate change issues addressed in this book, towards a vision of greater cooperation.

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