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The US offer to sell military hardware - including the Patriot missile system - to India comes with a much deeper strategic message. India has a constant gripe against the United States' arming of Pakistan, with the ostensible reason of taking on al-Qaeda terrorists and patrolling the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. India fears that a militarily strong Pakistan in the wake of US sanctions against the supply of similar weapons to India is a threat to its own security. Last month the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which handles all government-to-government military sales, informed the US Congress of a weapons package for Pakistan. It includes TOW anti-tank missiles, Phalanx shipborne guns and P-3C Orion long-range maritime-patrol strike aircraft at a total cost of US$971 million.
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Indeed, the latest India-US entente is a culmination of the two critical components through which India is being perceived by the Bush II regime. One is purely business, with India expected to tread the path of a reciprocal partner in other purchases such as the augmenting of Air India's passenger aircraft, which is being keenly watched in Boeing headquarters in Seattle. It is also likely that India will pitch for the Arrow missile defense system, which is a joint US-Israel effort. India has already purchased the Green Pine radar system and the Phalcon early-warning aircraft from Israel. Between the Israeli offer and the US, India is likely to bend the Washington way because of the long-term political and strategic implications attached to the purchase.
The second reason is the role that the US expects India to play in the international security structure, once US Secretary of State Colin Powell is out of the picture and Rice takes command of the foreign office. Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney and Rice have never been comfortable with Powell's even hand to China with the intention of engaging the Asian giant in trade and security matters. Powell's China-centric Asian approach has never gone down well with the neo-conservatives who control the Bush administration. The neo-cons prefer India to act as an effective check on the military and economic might of China. Rice has also never been comfortable with Powell's mollycoddling of Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf. Under Rice, Musharraf (who is on his way to Washington to meet with Bush) will continue to be very important to the US, but not at the cost of relations with India. With Powell out of the way, the path is clear and the arms offer is the first real indication of a more proactive India policy under Rice.
Russia, meanwhile, is far from impressed with the deal. On Tuesday, officials told Delhi that Moscow would no longer transfer any high-technology defense system to India without a pact to protect intellectual property rights, and said India's bid to buy the United States' Patriot anti-missile system would not work on Russian-supplied platforms.
Asia Times
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