Washington [US], March 29 : The US is rightly turning its attention towards its Indo-Pacific partner, India as it is high time the US turns its focus towards the needs of the Global South, writes Akhil Ramesh, a fellow with the Pacific Forum, for a report in US-based The Hill newspaper.
According to Ramesh, it is time the US also considers the partnership with India to be its gateway to the Global South. If Washington can come to terms with New Delhi's strategic autonomy, it may be in a position to understand the needs of the Global South better.
Both India and China are sought by world powers and, once recipients of aid, are now grantors of aid, according to The Hill report.
There are new superpowers and regional powers in the block in 2023. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, India and China were facing challenges from different fronts. Indira's India had to provide for hundreds of millions below the poverty line, fund inefficient state-run corporations and, with what was left or through debt, spend on its defence to take on Pakistan and China. China's situation was largely similar.
However, Russia and US are now rightly seeking the buy-in of these new powers, according to Ramesh.
Meanwhile, China and India are competing for something entirely different, leadership of the Global South in the multipolar world.
Based on Russia's actions over the last two years, it is evident that Moscow is coming to terms with the new world order. Washington on the other hand, still refrains from prioritizing needs over values. Consequently, this is preventing it from embracing partnerships with countries that do not fit into the "liberal democracy" mould, writes Ramesh for The Hill.
China is playing the role of peacemaker among historic rivals such as Saudi Arabia and Iran. And Moscow is following Beijing's footsteps by brokering talks between Syria and Saudi Arabia. Moscow has rightly understood the steps it needs to take as a declining power.
However, as Harvard Professor Stephen Walt put it, "the Biden administration is striving for a unipolar order that no longer exists", according to Ramesh.
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