TEHRAN - Gautam Adhikari, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington DC, tells the Tehran Times that U.S. and India have “several converging geopolitical interests in the broader Asian region, especially in South and Central Asia.”

Adhikari, who also served as a senior consultant of the World Bank, says both India and China are interested in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade agreement among twelve Pacific Rim countries.

“India seems to be interested in joining the Trans-Pacific partnership some day, as I think is China,” Adhikari notes.

The TTP pact was reached on October 5, 2015 after 7 years of negotiations. 

Following is the full text of the interview:

Q: On a trip to New Delhi in January 2015 Obama called U.S.-India relations as one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century. How important is India to the U.S.?

A: India and the United States share a range of common interests and values. Historical circumstances guiding national interests on each side kept the two at somewhat of a distance from each other during the Cold War. But over the past 15 years or so, New Delhi and Washington have been making earnest and constructive efforts to move closer with a desire to strengthen a natural partnership, that is based on shared interests and ideals, if not a formal alliance. This strengthening of ties began with a visit to India by President Bill Clinton in early 2000 and has continued to gather momentum with each succeeding administration in Washington and New Delhi. A U.S.-India deal for cooperation on the peaceful use of nuclear energy that was finalized by President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh removed an impediment to better understanding between the two sides. Today, economic relations are on a sharp rise, cooperation has gathered strength in military to military engagement as well as counter-terrorism activities, while President Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have developed a good degree of mutual understanding through state visits and consultations.

In U.S. eyes, India’s importance has at least three components. One is India’s rapidly growing economy, which this past year has registered well over 7 percent growth at a time when other major emerging markets, including China, have experienced economic slowdowns. India is an extremely important market as well as supplier of services and skilled workers to the rest of the world, especially the U.S. The American private sector is keenly interested in India’s growth and economic success.

Second, the two nations have several converging geopolitical interests in the broader Asian region, especially in South and Central Asia.

Third, American policy thinkers have become aware of the importance of helping India succeed as the world’s largest democracy with which the U.S. closely shares fundamental values. This can be an enduring basis for increasingly close cooperation between the two nations.

Q: In a statement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Obama said that it fell to the U.S. to set the rules for the 21st century global trade otherwise the U.S. rivals (esp. China) would step in. What is India’s status in regard to this policy?

A: India seems to be interested in joining the Trans-Pacific partnership some day, as I think is China. The TPP may have several shortcomings but on the whole it is likely to intensify trade and economic ties among the major powers of the Asian region and the Pacific rim. The economies of the U.S. and China have become far too co-dependent in recent years to avoid cooperation for mutual benefit. True, there is a strategic dimension to U.S. thinking on China’s dominant economic role in the Asian sphere, which it wants to balance, but their relationship as the world’s largest two economies and as the two most important global powers is likely to evolve to a mature level of understanding rather than degenerate completely to mutual acrimony. India, as an important economic power and soon-to-be the world’s most populous country has a stake in maintaining close ties with the U.S. without affecting a separate growth of better understanding with China, which by the way is already a significant investor in India’s market.

Q: Can we expect more strategic alliance between China and Pakistan in the wake of strained U.S.-Pakistan relationship? Does India make efforts to create a stronger relationship with the U.S. in such a situation?

A: China and Pakistan have had a good level of strategic understanding over several decades. Whether you could call it an “alliance” I’m not sure. China has helped Pakistan acquire nuclear weapons capability and has formally supported Pakistan’s cause in India-Pakistan conflicts. But it hasn’t really come to Pakistan’s defense when push has come to shove. In the war of 1971, for instance, China stood by as India’s military forced a split of Pakistan from its eastern half to create the new nation of Bangladesh. But there is considerable strategic overlap between the regional and national interests of Beijing and Islamabad. China continues to help Pakistan’s military grow in capability, it is deepening its economic ties and through developing the Gwadar port Beijing sees Pakistan as a crucial link to maintaining an open road to Central Asia.
India watches such developments warily but its ties with U.S. are far broader, and likely to grow strong independently, regardless of the China factor.
In recent times, however, Beijing has increasingly become worried about Pakistan as a hotbed of terrorist planning and activities which China fears might have links now or in the near future with Islamic unrest in the Uighur region.

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“India seems to be interested in joining the Trans-Pacific partnership some day, as I think is China,” Adhikari notes.