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The original “Great Game” was fought in the mid-1800s between the Russian Empire and the combined might of the British, French and Ottoman Empires over control of Central Asia.
Washington is displeased with India on three key issues: One, buying crude oil from Russia at discounted prices which has helped Moscow escape sanctions; two, standing up to Western criticism over alleged assassinations of Indian-origin extremists on Western soil; and three, operationalising Chabahar port in Iran.
Neither Washington nor Beijing welcomes the untrammelled rise of India. To China, India is an upstart, fit for a regional, not global, role. For the US, India serves as a subaltern in the Indo-Pacific. Its usefulness is as a regional bulwark to China.
In the 19th century Great Game between the Russian and British Empires, the Ottomans played the third angle in what was essentially a binary contest. Within 50 years, by 1918, caught in a pincer between rival European powers in the First World War, the Ottoman Empire, which had allied with Germany, was dismantled, the Caliphate abolished.
India, unlike the Ottomans who were in terminal decline in the early 20th century, is a rising power. It lay dormant as a British colony. Today, a resurgent India can play the balancing pivot between the US and China. For that, however, it will have to nuance its strategy.
In 2023-24, China replaced the US as India’s largest trading partner. Total trade with China was $118.4 billion, a shade higher than India’s total trade with the US.
This has sent a powerful message to Washington: don’t take India for granted. India will trade with whoever it wants (China), manage ports wherever it wants (Iran), and buy crude from whichever country offers the best deal (Russia).India has brushed off the implied threat. Simultaneously, India has ignored China’s concerns by selling BrahMos cruise missiles to Beijing’s bête noire Philippines in a $375 million deal.
To play the new Great Game effectively, India must shed decades of foreign policy inhibitions. Since the Russia-Ukraine war, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has shown robust independence in word and action.
#geopolitics #geopoliticstelugu #india #usa #greatgame #newgreatgame #china #ragadi
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