International Affairs

Concerns about a rising China's behaviour has been a key driver of US-India relations since the mid-2000s. One of the reasons India and the US have come together has to do with concerns about certain kinds of Chinese behaviour, not China per se. These concerns range from China unilaterally changing the status quo in the region, Chinese economic behaviour, and its impact on the rules-based order in the region. In terms of a broader US-India relationship, that has been a key factor, though not the only factor.

[The] sense of victimhood [some of Europe’s alienated ultranationalists may feel is getting] reflected in the plight of Trump at the moment. [...] This election was not a full rejection of Trumpism [...it sent a message that] nationalist populist movements have strength.

It’s a possible geopoli­tical gang-up against China. We need to rally the demo­cratic world together. It cannot be a race to the bottom like a new Cold War... [India] wants the US to have ‘a Goldilocks approach’ for putting pressure on China. Not to press too hard to make the situation go out of control and not too little to be ineffective in containing China.

The Biden team understands that lecturing India publicly or threatening it publicly will not go down well, and will not achieve any change that they want to see... I suspect you might have a Biden Administration that is more likely to bring these issues up privately [than the Trump Administration]. But I think publicly, you’ll see a continuation of what we saw both Obama and Trump do, which is alluding to these issues through talking about the importance for the world of India as a diverse, tolerant democracy.