US has made an offer

This talk of the US offer fuelling a fresh arms race on the subcontinent also does not quite make sense. The very fact that New Delhi and Islamabad might be buying weapons from the US seems to make a lot of people in the subcontinent uneasy. But stranger things have happened. For more than a decade, Russia has been selling similar fighter aircraft to both India and China. That hasn8217;t led to an arms race between New Delhi and Beijing. There are only three major centres of advanced arms production 8212; the US, Europe and Russia. As a result, India, Pakistan and China would want to leverage the best possible deals with these sources for their inevitable defence modernisation. India would be unwise to refuse the American offer and reduce its choices.

With its obsession over the transfer of F-16s to Pakistan, the government has glossed over the rare offer from the Bush administration 8212; to make India a world power. During her talks in New Delhi on March 16, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had spelt out this new approach. But the government has preferred to strike an injured posture over the transfer of F-16s to Pakistan rather than engage with the Rice proposals. Besides a long-term defence-industrial partnership, the Bush administration is offering to sell nuclear reactors to India and enhance New Delhi8217;s global standing. For sceptics in the government this is a mere sop. But all indicators over the last few years 8212; especially the Bush administration8217;s National Security Strategy of 2002 and the recent US National Intelligence Council report predicting the dramatic rise of India and China by 2020 8212; suggest a strategic assessment on America8217;s part that a stronger India is in its national interest. If New Delhi were to scoff at this offer, it would indicate a myopia of a very high order. Instead, it should be negotiating on the new US proposals in a serious and open manner. That would be the best way to test American intentions.