When did you realise that India is changing dramatically and that the world
wants to come to India?
For many years now, I have been watching how despite the massive American and European investment in China (over $600 billion), America in particular is not all that happy doing business with China. In one year when Indians won both Miss Universe and Miss World I wondered if it did not have to do something with a tactical decision -- to draw India into the beauty pageant business much more than before. And the heightened interest could also mean
a bigger market for foreign cosmetics.
Similarly, though the American and Western investment in India is small compared to that in China, Indian and American ties can grow organically and fast for strategic reasons. China is continuing to cause security dilemmas
in South Asia. There is hardly any transparency in China unlike in India.
Despite corruption and seemingly political chaos, there is far more openness, thanks to our ethos and among other things, the free nature of our media.
I have heard many American CEOs whisper that the Chinese government often dictates to them. These CEOs resent that but they don't discuss it openly; they are afraid of the consequences.
By recognising and empowering India as a major global player -- through defence support or the civil nuclear deal -- I believe, as China watcher Parama Sinha Palit notes -- Washington is engaging New Delhi as 'a hedge' against the growing Beijing influence.
The need to have a closer bond with India -- not just an economic bond -- has become even more important since 9/11. Militant Islam is just one of the threats America is facing. Growing Chinese business and military ambition is
yet another serious threat, America cannot just ignore it.
I am aware that some observers may say my thoughts and those of people like Palit are too simplistic and an old-fashioned cloak and dagger approach, and wishful thinking that brings America and India closer because of the Chinese threat. But I believe in the theory and many top company executives and policymakers think so, too.
You must also remember that China has been forging ties with totalitarianism regimes in Africa, especially in Sudan and Central Asia. This could lead to a threat to the energy security of the United States as well as many other countries including India.
What also troubles India is the speed with which Beijing is setting up naval and military facilities in Pakistan and Myanmar. Beyond the shared democratic history, the threat of the growing economic and military clout of an aggressive China worries political and business leaders in America. One of the things I am doing in this book is to get people at
large in America to look at this threat.
I argue in the book that the twin swords of possible Chinese domination on the one hand and rising Islamic extremism on the other have played a crucial role in bringing New Delhi and Washington together.
Despite all the talk about the booming Chinese economy there is already a lot of talk about how much of a bubble the so-called Chinese miracle is. The workers in China have hardly any voice. But they are not going to keep quiet. The displaced people are not going to keep quiet. And when they demand more freedom, the Chinese government will have to give in.
But given the lack of democratic irradiations, it would be very, very difficult for the government to make the concessions and yet stop chaotic conditions from emerging. We have seen how difficult it was for Russia to make a transition from an authoritarian State into relatively open State.
On the other hand, India is a nation that has, and not accidentally, recovered from being under the thumb of the Soviet-style economy to be the home of an IT and outsourcing revolution, and this is a revolution that is unparalleled in the history of the world.
If we have come this far, to some extent the credit goes to our business leaders, civil servants, and ordinary people who learned how to survive, to be innovative and resilient under a very controlled economy and business
system for over three and half decades from the time of our Independence.
My book does not gloss over the problems India faces, be it the Naxalite (Maoist) threat that I feel is greatly exaggerated, or water pollution. But I believe that it is entirely in our destiny and heritage to greatly reduce
the threats, if not completely remove them.
Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai in 1994 after they won the Miss Universe and Miss World titles. Photographs: Getty Images
Also read: A changing India
Advertisement
