Wall Street Journal
Thursday, July 21, 2005

Editorial: A Two-Way Partnership

Perhaps no other bilateral relationship has improved as much under U.S. President George W. Bush's leadership as Washington's relationship with New Delhi. Gone are the days when the "nagging nannies" in the State Department, as former U.S. ambassador to India Robert Blackwill calls them, obstructed any attempt to improve relations. During the Clinton administration, they insisted on seeing every issue through the prism of New Delhi's nuclear-weapons program -- and put more emphasis on improving ties with China, a country that has far less in common with the U.S. and is rapidly emerging as a strategic competitor.

Mr. Bush, by contrast, was quick to see the potential for a closer partnership with a country that shares America's democratic values. "A billion people in a functioning democracy. Isn't that something?" then Gov. Bush said in early 1999, Mr. Blackwill recounted in an op-ed on this page in March of this year. Those burgeoning ties were taken to new heights when Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh received red-carpet treatment during his visit to Washington this week, including an address to a joint session of Congress and the first White House banquet of Mr. Bush's second term.

As Indian columnist Swapan Dasgupta writes in a related article1, "the White House more than walked that extra mile to give greater substance to the new global and strategic partnership." That included setting aside past concerns about New Delhi's nuclear-weapons program to sign a deal to supply India with civilian nuclear technology and conventional military equipment, in return for international inspections of its civilian program. The administration also signaled support for New Delhi playing a greater role in international affairs.

Washington stopped short of endorsing India's quest for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, however, in contrast to its explicit support for Japan's bid. That has prompted some disappointment in New Delhi. But it also offers an opportunity to reflect on what India still needs to do if it wants to be seen on a par with Tokyo.

New Delhi has the potential to become an even closer ally than Japan. Rising concern about China's military modernization was highlighted again Tuesday by a Pentagon report that Beijing was preparing "to fight and win short-duration, high-intensity conflicts." This came only days after a Chinese general threatened nuclear war if the U.S. comes to Taiwan's defense in the event of a cross-strait altercation.

India, which has its own concerns about Beijing's intentions, could act as a useful counterweight to China's growing military might. But it is difficult to see it becoming a close U.S. ally -- deserving of support for a seat on a reformed Security Council -- so long as it continues to flirt with rogue regimes.

To be sure, India lives in a rough neighborhood and is concerned about leaving a vacuum in nearby states that China would readily fill. But that is not reason enough for abandoning its previously staunch support for democracy in Burma, and feting Than Shwe, head of the country's military junta, during last year's first visit to India by a Burmese head of state in 24 years. No wonder President Bush made a point of reminding Mr. Singh Monday that Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest in Rangoon, is a heroine who deserves every support.

The situation is equally bad when it comes to Iran, with Foreign Minister Natwar Singh making it clear that New Delhi sees Tehran differently from Washington. Instead of putting pressure on Iran over its nuclear program, India is championing a lucrative gas pipeline project for the mullahs.

Nor did New Delhi prove a reliable ally over Iraq. While the Japanese government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi invested considerable political capital in sending a contingent of Japan's Self Defense Forces, India ducked the challenge. New Delhi rejected repeated requests to send troops to participate in the post-war reconstruction of Iraq, even though the U.S. offered to keep them under Indian command.

None of this diminishes the importance of the new partnership with India that the Bush administration had the foresight to pioneer. From tackling terrorism to keeping a wary eye on China, there are a wide range of common interests for the two countries to pursue.

But partnerships are a two-way street. The administration made an important gesture this week in essentially exempting India from international accords barring the transfer of civilian nuclear technology to nuclear-weapons states -- a decision for which it is already taking heat in the U.S. Congress.

Mr. Singh could do no better to reciprocate than by addressing some of America's concerns that still stand in the way of the two democracies becoming even closer allies.