KOCHI: India has the potential to play the role of a normative leader in the Asia-Pacific power transition in balancing the influence of the US and China, said international affairs experts, speaking at an interaction here.
At the fulcrum of global geopolitics transitions, India’s ambition of being a regional dominant player is mediated by several external factors. In the age of resource wars, India succeeds in expanding its naval footprint across the region to mark its presence, thereby engaging in multilateral and bilateral initiatives.
The Centre for Public Policy Research organised an interaction with professor W Lawrence S Prabhakar on ‘Great power transitions, power shifts in the Asia-Pacific, India’s foreign and security policy, position and posture’. The event, attended by Hormis Tharakan, Prof. K C Abraham, K V Thomas and other experts from the field of international relations, discussed power transitions, power shifts, comprehensive national powers, and the position of India in the Asia-Pacific region.
Power transitions result from differential growth rate, their effect on alternating relative power between nations resulting in the formation of new political and economic entities. Will the rise of China mean the fall of the US? The US is an 800-tonne elephant in the Asia-Pacific and if the US leaves, it could lead to the unity of North and South Korea and also Japan. Hence at present, the US acts as an extensive nuclear deterrence.
With the most experienced armed forces in the world, the significance of the US is pretty much self-explanatory. It is a misconception that China will go to war if they rise to power. China is already a growing economic power and have conquered many sectors of the economy worldwide, which is a modernised approach compared to taking up arms, said Prabhakar.
Global powers such as the US and China declare a statement of their national powers in the form of a ‘comprehensive national power’, thereby advertising their power and position in the world, said Prof. Abraham.
India, on the other hand, does not declare or advertise its national powers. India is not a part of any alliance, instead India aims at partnerships with other nations, thereby maintaining a strategic autonomy over its opinions, he said.
India is a responsible stakeholder and a ‘rule maker’ power in the world. India has always approached these issues from a moral angle, without depending on its military powers, he said.