What Role the US Plays in Shaping it's Strategic Perception - Assignment Example

1With the rising powers like India and China, what challenges these powers pose to each other, what security challenges they pose to the Asia-Pacific region and what role the US plays in shaping its strategic perception 1. Introduction- 1.5 The economic scenario of the world is continuously changing and these changes are creating new powers in the world. United States of America is widely accepted as superpower in the world. It fulfils all the criteria of being a superpower such as strong economy, technological base and huge military forces. However, world economy is experiencing huge changes and countries like China, India and Brazil are emerging a rising powers of the world. In addition to this, European Union as a whole and Russia are also considered as rising powers of the world. In the following paper, India and China are described as rising powers of the world and their position in the world is discussed. Decade of 1990 was decisive period for both India and China because they made a vast change in the traditional economic policies. Along with the economic policies, changes were also made in the political scenario. Therefore, both of them show many similarities in their economic trajectory. In past, both of them were struggling with financial crisis but slow and steady they emerged from it and achieved an admirable growth afterwards. The whole world appreciated model of their economies. Other counties started to study their economic model to find out the magic agent behind their growth. Now, India & China has become manufacturing hub and appetite for manufactured goods around the world is satisfied by these two countries and for this they searching for raw material worldwide. In addition to this, they have now become new engine future growth which has tremendous impact on the world economy hence well being of these economies is becoming ever more important. Along with India and China, Brazil is also important for the world and three of them together possess the power to create political waves around the globe. Gradually their heavy presence is felt on the international stage as well as in the transnational institutes like World Trade Organisation (WTO) which in turn make the world feel economic weight of these countries. Rise of India and China is as important for the world as the industrial revolution and subsequent rise of the US and their rise have power to transform global political and economic order. In addition to this, inability of bigger economic powers like Japan and Germany created space for rising economies like India and China. Both these countries are not only evolving in term of Gross Domestic (GDP) but also creating geopolitical influence throughout the world. 2. Reason of rise of India and China- 2.5 Rise of a country as a superpower in the world is not a case of a day or two. It takes a long way of struggle to reach at the top. Nowadays, there are two countries which are emerging as power in the world i.e. India and China. Both of these countries remained slave of European countries for many decades which ruined their economy to a great extent. They started from scratch and build a strong economy whose model is studied around the globe. They emerged as powerful modern economy by their global integration. However, transformation in these two economies created tension between newly created relationships which are linked to trans-nationalised accumulation and 2nation-centric class interest. The dominance of India and China started with this shift in world economic scenario. China has been struggling against the imperialism. Its political system is made up of communist and this system led the country towards economic developments. Now, Chinese economy is converted into globalist regime but still political leaders have full control over the economy. So far they have avoided the pitfalls of financial speculation and the loss of capital controls that put other countries under IMF dictated structural adjustments. Chinese leaders are committed to make china at a respected and integrated position in all the international groups and forum. It doesn’t want to be known as indebted junior partner2. Local economic institutions and their communist past is remould by the statist experience of the government so that they won’t lose their control and power. 68% of the GDP is produced by the state owned sector. In addition to this, it employs 729 million people. The Chinese Communist Party has transformed their socialist ideology into a new national project that defines modernization in globalist terms. Jawaharlal Nehru and Congress Party established a statist development model which was followed by India for many decades. This model created an economy that included large civil service employment base and state sponsored industries, with a strategy of import substitution, backed by a non-aligned foreign policy. Marxist and communist parties of India also supported this model of development. However, later on emerge of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) challenged this model and demanded for neo-liberal economics. In the decade of 1990, Indian political system as well as its economic system took a major turn and process of economic reform started. It is known as liberalisation privatisation and globalisation. It completely changed the face of Indian economy. This reform policy is considered as reason behind the rise of India as economic and political power in the world. India and china have shown their determination to reach at the heights. Booming economy of the India and China is noticeable by their GDP growth rate which range between 8 to 10% and sometimes even higher. After adopting the reformist way of success, both the countries highly invested infrastructure and education. They are making world class engineers, doctors, scientists and entrepreneurs by investing in education. It is noticed that most of the manufactured goods bear a tag of “made in China” while most of the call centre services are rendering from India. Therefore, smart investment in every part of the economy to build it strong is the reason for the rise of the Indian and Chinese economy. Though the major reason of the India and China’s success is embedded in reform in their policies yet failure of other powerful countries like Japan, UK and Germany is also counted as one of the reasons of rise of these two countries. Opportunities which were left by these developed nations as scrap, India and China took those as their way to success. They never treated any opportunity as less important or inferior. First of all, they treated globalisation as an opportunity for themselves and approved the entry of foreign companies in the territory which was previously banned in both the nations. Opening door for the international and multinational companies give business to those business organisation but also enhance the scope of the native companies of these countries to go abroad and expand their business. Entry of foreign companies not only brings employment with itself but also technological advancement and new inventions which enhance the life style of these two countries. In addition to this, entrepreneurs of these two countries got a chance to go abroad and expand their business which in turn enhance the competitiveness of their business and brought in foreign capital. Furthermore, boost in the business gave strength to these economies which in turn increase their weight on political stage also. Countries with more wealth in account especially foreign exchange has a right to speak against the powerful western countries otherwise keep mum. Global integration of India and China with Brazil and Russia make their position prominent in international ground and their opinions and objections were not only heard by the superpowers but also executed. 3. Challenges India and China pose to each other- 2 India and China is close neighbour to each other. A Chinese saying read that a good neighbour is better than a brother in the next village. However, it is not the case that both the countries are experiencing currently. Both India and China pose challenges and threats to each other. Both are emerging powers of Asia-Pacific region hence emergence of power game is obvious between these two countries. Both of them are eager to prove their supremacy and control in the South-Asian region and prove that one is more powerful and influential in the particular region. Close geographical position of both the countries impose a lingering territorial dispute on them. In addition to this, their future cooperation is also on stake due to competing economic agendas. Furthermore, their hard earned mutual trust is also deteriorating because both of them are doubtful about each other’s military build-up. Though geographical proximity of the India and china increase their chances of economic interdependence, trade and investment yet their political and military ambitions are decreasing rate of their cooperation and increasing tension between them. China’s growth rate is more impressive than that of India hence India reported that China does not accept India as major global player and does not take Indian security concerns seriously. Along with this, political think tank of India held the view for a long time that tension between Indian and Chinese relations should not be acknowledged because of the uneasy response of Chinese counter-parts. That acknowledgment took a long time in coming. One incident which demanded a great level of damage control from the Indian elite is declaration that China is India’s number one enemy by Indian defence minister in 1998. Since then India’s foreign policy in relation to China is largely based on the growing profile of the China. Now both the sides have accepted the existence of the divergent interests, though issues like environment and economy are still convergent between them. However, the relationship remains fraught with tension. The above discussion does not imply that India is taking on China militarily. New Delhi also adopted the policy of not being proactive in relation to the Chinese activities in its surrounding regions. This is a very crucial change in Indian foreign policy and will determine most of the initiatives that India will take regarding China. China is enjoying more powerful position than India and increasing its dominance around the globe therefore India is facing more challenges from China than China is facing from India. There are variety of challenges and threats which both countries impose on each other such as military, political, economic, trade, investment, and energy and so on yet military challenges are major among all. Neither Indian side is expecting any serious threat to its sovereignty nor is China thinking of a total war against India. However, Chinese flash points along LAC (line of Actual Control) and its statement about Arunachal Pradesh increasing Indian security concerns. Furthermore, India is struggling with Pakistan over the border issue on Jammu & Kashmir and it is commonly known that the two countries are not sharing a good bond with each other. Even in such circumstances, China is increasingly supporting Pakistan in its activities in POK and also enhancing level of cooperation in other activities. On the contrary, Chinese people also think that India is biggest threat to their country because of the presence of sixty thousands Indian troops in Indian- Chinese border. In addition to this, nuclear weapons of India are also considered as threat by the China. Other than military perspective, economic prosperity of both countries is treated like challenged in front of them. Both of them are counted as fastest growing economies of the world and making a mark of their presence. India is considered as service hub whereas China is famous for being a manufacturing hub. However, both of them are trying to enter into their respective expertise area. On one hand, India is facing severe competition from China in textiles, clothing and leather products while China is facing competition in software industry, call centres and BPO industries. In addition to this, both of them are posing severe political challenges to each other as they trying to make their presence by influencing the political issues of international importance. 4. Challenges India & China pose to the Asia-Pacific region- 2 The Asia Pacific region covers a huge area in western Pacific Ocean. In includes East Asia, Southeast Asia and Oceania. This area also includes countries like USA, Canada and Australia. Rise of India and China as potential superpower of the world is considered as challenge for rest of the Asia Pacific region. India and china are fastest developing countries of the world and is a home of one third population of the world. Their economies are booming, living standard is enhancing, per capita income is rising fast, purchasing power is increasing and there is great demand for their product and services in the international market. Macroeconomic constraints are continued to be buoyant in these two countries; their economies are expected to increase further with more reforms and market openings. Indeed the economic implications of these factors for the rest of developing countries in Asia and the Pacific are enormous. The bigger economies and proclaimed superpowers of this region feel challenges from these fastest growing economies in terms of competition they impose on them. These two economies are entering into their business areas and eating their business perspectives. Countries which have their monopolies in any specific area of business now facing direct competition from India and China as both of them are trying to enter into every aspect of business. India and china are emerging as bigger challenge in front of the developed countries of the Asia Pacific region as they are gulping down their business. In addition to this, their increasing military and political power is seen as growing challenge for the Asia Pacific region. Both of these nations have nuclear weapons and also both of them are close neighbour but do not have peaceful relations. It implies that any tension between these two countries can have big negative impact on the entire Asia Pacific region. It not only raises the possibility of nuclear war but also of economic instability in the region. Furthermore, smaller developing counties of this region are afraid of growth of India & China because of economies of scale and availability of cheap labour in these two countries. Countries which were previously considered as hub of garment industry such as Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos are now facing stiff competition from India and China. However, this challenge should be taken as healthy competition in the industry in order to increase efficiency of the production. In spite of this, countries like Laos need special treatment so that it can cope up with medium term competition. In addition to this, rapid economic growth of India and China is based on the industrial production that is harming the environment. Industrial wastes are causing air, water and overall environment pollution. These countries are rapidly developing on the cost of their environment and neighbouring counties are also adversely affected by their contribution in global warning. It can be proved as a challenge in front of entire Asia Pacific region as environmental concerns are increasing worldwide. 5. Role of the US in shaping its strategic perception – 2 United States of America is superpower of the world and its supremacy is gradually increasing the world affairs. Its strategies are sharp and clear about every country of the world. India and China are emerging as potential superpowers of the world hence US sees strategic importance in these countries. Its statements in relation to role of India and China in Afghanistan indicate that it wants lead the path of their success in their own way. Though US do not openly discuss its strategic perception about the rise of India and China yet it is clear from its statements and actions that it perceives both of them as major future challenge. For this, the US is adopting a strategy to make the India as an ally and treat the China as foe, though not in assertive manner. The US considers china as a major threat which can even challenge its supremacy in the world therefore it is strengthening its bond with India in order to make India’s position strong in Asia. In the 21st century, relations among these three countries will have a tremendous influence over the course of actions within the Asia Pacific region. The way they deal with one another decides the stability and peace in the region. From India and China’s present status of largest developing countries of the world to their history, social characteristics, economy and culture; they share a lot of commonalties. India and China are leader in East Asia and South Asia respectively; though do not possess global influence. For America’s economic point of view India and China are emerging market economies with lots of opportunities whereas from its strategic point of view they are transitional countries with a degree of uncertainty. The US has comprehensions that India and China can join hands with Russia and can form a new equation of multi-polar world. For this, US are continuously involved in damage control in relation to India and China. Relations between India and US are heading towards comprehensive cooperative framework which includes security, economy and democracy. Now the US strategically perceives the role of China in South Asia and in information technology industry. In addition to this, US has signed a deal with India for nuclear power and do not mind its nuclear tests now. Furthermore, the US also seems eager to improve its relations with the China because it sees China as major future competitors in fields like international market, military primacy and energy resources. It is also said that United States is cultivating a closer relationship with India to contain China; a factor they suspect is behind the recent nuclear deal. But some say this would be a mistake. However, both Indian and American officials show their negligence for such intentions. Also, China is not so powerful till date that suppresses the combination of India and US. Thus, it can be said that actions and statement from US side are not transparent to understand it’s strategic perception and role in relation to India and China. 6. Conclusion- 1 On the basis of above discussion, it can be said that emergence of India and China is creating both challenges and opportunities for the rest of the world. Growth of these two economies ensures safe and good future of more than 2.5 billion people who are their inhabitants. Rise of these two economies giving them economic, military and political prominence throughout the world. India and China are not only close neighbours but also have similarities in their history, social settings and business relation. The unfortunate war of 1962 troubled the relations between these fastest growing economies of the world. The current status of relation between India and China is not very good but it cannot be declared as bad one. Both of them have their own apprehensions for each other that in some sense are right. China’s increasing activities near the LAC and POK enhancing the security concerns of the India whereas close bond between India and US is considered as threat by the China especially the nuclear deal. At present china and India are manufacturing and service hub of the world respectively. Their economies are booming and per capita income is also constantly increasing. Being neighbour and on the same stage of development is increasing the probability of stiff competition between India and China. Developed countries have also recognised the importance of the India and China in world economy and especially in Asia Pacific region. Their political stands and opinions are also gaining worth on the international stage. In addition to this, the only superpower of the world the US opines that India and China are major global players. Now, US make or alter its strategies in accordance with the course of events in India and China. 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