U.S., India must 'reorient' foreign policy through geo-economics: Blackwill

Underscoring its strategic importance, former US Ambassador to India, Robert Blackwill, today urged U.S. and India to capitalise on economic instruments to promote and defend national interests, and to produce beneficial geopolitical results.

Addressing a session organised by the Ananta Aspen Centre, a New Delhi-based think tank, Blackwill asserted that economic issues were not only dominating the current international discourse but also emerging as the core element of foreign policy for most countries.

"The United States and India still define and pursue national interests largely in political and military terms. America and India must re-orient foreign policy to succeed in an era crucially defined by economic power projection. But it will not be easy. This profound shift will require a wholesale updating of foreign policy DNA-policy priorities, assumptions, objectives, strategies and tactics," said Blackwill.

"It is true that faster and more efficient Indian weapons acquisition procedures are urgently needed in order to responsibly guard the nation and to reinforce the balance of power in Asia. But in the years ahead, U.S. and Indian military prowess is not going to address China's geo-economic policies against the nations of Asia nor is not going to provide Pakistan's civilian government economic incentives to move away from confrontation with India," he added.

On China's rise in the global arena, Blackwill opined, "China seeks to end U.S. primacy in Asia and alter the balance of power in its favour in this vast and crucial region. And although China pursues ambitious military modernization, its tools in implementing the nation's grand strategy for the foreseeable future are primarily geo-economic and not military."

In his address, Blackwill also identified key US national interests, stressing these were "extremely important": preventing the threat of the use of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons anywhere; promoting the well-being of U.S. allies and friends and protect them from external aggression; preventing, managing, and, if possible at reasonable cost, ending major conflicts in important geographic regions; and preventing massive, uncontrolled immigration across U.S. borders, among others.

"The United States presently faces a blizzard of international problems, from the rise of Chinese power; to what now seems to be the return of Russian systemic destabilizing policies in Eurasia and beyond; to chaos in the Middle East; to the continuing danger of WMD terrorism," said Blackwill.

Blackwill is presently co-authoring a book on geo-economics with Jennifer Harris. His current work focusses on American Foreign Policy writ large as well as China, Russia, The Middle East, South Asia and geo-economics.

Ambassador Blackwill went to the National Security Council (NSC) after serving as the U.S. ambassador to India from 2001 to 2003, and is the recipient of the 2007 Bridge-Builder Award for his role in transforming U.S.-India relations. Ambassador Blackwill is author and editor of many articles and books on transatlantic relations, Russia and the West, the Greater Middle East, and Asian security.

His latest book, a bestseller co-authored with Graham Allison of Harvard's Kennedy School, is titled Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United States, and the World (MIT Press, February 2013).