“Counter-terrorism cooperation with Washington unprecedented”
Speaking ahead of President Barack Obama's visit amid a controversy over whether Washington informed New Delhi of Lashkar operative David Headley's reconnaissance missions before the Mumbai attacks, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon maintained that existing counter-terrorism cooperation between India and the U.S. was unprecedented compared to the period five years ago.
Speaking at a seminar on Indo-U.S. ties organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here on Tuesday, the NSA said bilateral cooperation in hi-tech trade, including in dual use items, had reached critical mass.
“Not a binary world”
Mr. Menon described India's foreign policy as “genuine non-alignment” and said better India-U.S. ties would not impact either India-China or China-U.S. relations because this was “not a binary world.” He said India sought a relationship of “equals” with the U.S. and was “very optimistic” of the future.
Speaking against the backdrop of Union Home Secretary G.K. Pillai observing that the U.S. had not shared specific information on Headley, he said that, “in India [it is being said], how much did the U.S. know about Headley at what time and how much did they tell us? If you look at the broader picture, the kind of access we got to Headley is unprecedented. This is not what many states do very easily.”
“People expect much more out of this relationship. So, a lot of dissatisfaction we hear, whether it is outsourcing or counter-terrorism, we expect this relationship to do much more.
“The level of engagement between our two countries is unprecedented. We never had this kind of engagement with each other in our history. There is no sphere of human endeavour in which we do not actually cooperate,” Mr. Menon said.
On U.S. export control laws, the NSA said Washington had gradually changed the regime since the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership was signed in 2004 which was followed by the setting up of the High Technology Cooperation Group the following year. This now reached “critical mass” with some high-tech transfers from the U.S. to India being better than what Washington's closer allies such as the U.K got.
“Needed adjustment”
Brookings president Strobe Talbott was of the opinion that India and the U.S. must adjust a little to make effective contributions at G-20. The U.S. needed to “wean away a bit” from G-7 and India should similarly wean itself away from G-77 and the Non-Aligned Movement.
On Mr. Obama giving some kind of assurance on the U.S. backing India's bid for a permanent United Nations Security Council seat, Mr. Talbott said while he hoped both sides would spend a lot of time discussing the issue, such a “cheque runs the risk of not being cashed for a long time.”
