US views relations with India important to tackle China: Markey

Daniel Markey's latest book 'No Exit from Pakistan' talks about the Indo-China relationship

The US is likely to have an interest in seeing India achieve its ambitions of growth and power and views a good relationship with the country as necessary for managing the implications of a rising China, a noted American scholar has said.

"The United States is likely to have an interest in seeing India achieve its ambitions of growth and power. On the whole, this will be true even if New Delhi never seeks or accepts a formal alliance with Washington," says Daniel Markey in his latest book 'No Exit from Pakistan' which hit the book stores this month.

Markey says, both the Bush and Obama administrations have correctly viewed a good relationship with India as necessary for managing the implications of a rising China.

Leaders in both capitals across a wide range of the political spectrum have proclaimed the world's oldest and largest democracies to be "natural allies", he wrote.

In addition to its own rising power and appeal to American businessmen and policymakers alike, India also offers a pluralist and democratic alternative to the authoritarian Chinese model, he wrote.

Among other common interests, New Delhi shares Washington's interest in at least hedging against the risks associated with China's rising influence.

Assuming India's economy grows apace, it will offer an additional wealth-creating engine for a region that might otherwise depend too heavily on Beijing, he noted. And in areas where size matters, India delivers: its population is young and growing quickly, likely to surpass China's total by 2025, he said.

Markey suggested the reasons for the US hedging its bets over India in the Asia Pacific region is its massive army which is making huge investments in purchasing equipment and technology.

"On the military front, India lags far behind China in many capabilities, but unlike America's allies in East Asia such as Japan, Korea, or Australia, India's army brings massive manpower, and all of its services are investing billions of dollars in new purchases of equipment and technology," he said.

At the same time, Markey says that India's rise is likely, but not assured. Many of the primary obstacles to India's rise are internal ones, such as ineffective state institutions, entrenched poverty, insufficient infrastructure, and political corruption.

"But Pakistan remains the greatest external threat to Indian growth and security. India and Pakistan are locked in a hostile relationship that has nearly spiralled into war on several occasions even after they both tested their nuclear weapons in 1998," he writes.