Changes and Features of Indian Diplomacy in the Context of the US Indo-Pacific Strategy

Abstract

During the Trump administration (January 2017 to December 2020), the United States formulated the “Indo-Pacific Strategy” and officially established a strategic competition with China throughout the government. The strategy aimed to woo allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region and accelerate the construction and promotion of the “Quadrilateral Security Dialogue”. India, as the “world's largest democracy”, has unresolved border issues with China, making it a key target for the United States to woo, and thus forcing India to change its foreign policy. On February 11, 2022, the Biden administration introduced a new version of the “Indo-Pacific Strategy”, which further clarified the overall framework of strategic competition with China, continued to deepen the strategic setting with the prominent features of wooing allies and confronting China, emphasized the core role of the Quad and the central position of ASEAN countries, highlighted the military deterrence of the US-UKAustralia alliance, and created an “anti-China circle” in multiple fields such as biosecurity, science and technology, economic finance, and climate change. Although India is the founding country of the Non-Aligned Movement and has long relied on “independent and autonomous” foreign policy, the current new geopolitical environment where Sino-Indian relations are at a low point due to the border issue, Russia-Ukraine conflicts continue due to NATO's eastward expansion, and the rapid development of the Quad, signifies the power balance in the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions. This also indirectly reflects the progress of India's own “Indo-Pacific Strategy” and the implementation of the US “Indo-Pacific Strategy”, thus providing a dimension for predicting the development trend of the strategic competition between China and the US.