The collective will of people is needed to safeguard India’s interests

“A deviation from this basic constitutional proposition will damage India’s capability to successfully navigate the enormous strategic challenges that are growing because of the technological changes underway in a turbulent global environment. The regional situation, too, presents difficulties that can be ignored only at the peril of hurting national interests. And, for India, the key country connecting its regional and global challenges is China.”

With the onset of the year in which the Indian republic will celebrate 75 years of its establishment, the fervent hope of the majority of its citizens is for social peace and harmony. This can only be achieved if there is a realization that the path to right the ‘wrongs of history’ lies through cementing a common nationhood that is respectful of the traditions and faiths of all Indians. That acceptance and respect are also the premise and promise of the republic’s foundational principle, so eloquently expressed in the Constitution.

A deviation from this basic constitutional proposition will damage India’s capability to successfully navigate the enormous strategic challenges that are growing because of the technological changes underway in a turbulent global environment. The regional situation, too, presents difficulties that can be ignored only at the peril of hurting national interests. And, for India, the key country connecting its regional and global challenges is China.

China’s threat goes far beyond the border issue. A process of ‘normalizing’ the relationship, which was acutely impaired by China’s actions in eastern Ladakh in the summer of 2020, may now have begun. The Ministry of External Affairs’ readout of the Narendra Modi-Xi Jinping meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in October last year noted, “The two leaders affirmed that stable, predictable and amicable bilateral relations between India and China, as two neighbors and the two largest nations on earth, will have a positive impact on regional and global peace and prosperity. It will also contribute to a multipolar Asia and a multipolar world”. However, whatever China may agree to during formal summit-level meetings, it is working for, at least, a bipolar world order and is assiduously seeking a unipolar Asia in which its power and influence prevail. And, the backbone of both these quests lies not only in its economic success and growing military power but also its undoubted and deep advances in the areas of science and high technology.

In 2018, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, had said, “The popular conception is that companies come to China because of low labor costs. I’m not sure what part of China they go to, but the truth is that China stopped being the low-labor-cost country years ago. And that is not the reason to come to China from a supply point of view. The reason is because of the skill, and the quantity of skill in one location and the type of skill…” He went on to say that the products that were Apple’s requirement needed advanced tooling capable of working with state-of-the-art material. He added, “That tooling skill is very deep here. In the US, you could have a meeting of tooling engineers and I’m not sure we could fill the room. In China, you could fill multiple football fields…”

That was over six years ago. China’s drive to develop human capital in the areas of frontier manufacturing continues relentlessly. It is, however, not satisfied with becoming the factory of the world. It is now seeking to reach US and Western European levels in design and innovation in large frontier technology sectors, including artificial intelligence (AI).

Till recently, it was commonly and correctly believed that in AI, the US excelled in ‘technical innovation’ while Chinese companies were competent at ‘application innovation’. There was generally a gap of one or two years before the application occurred. However, the Chinese are now realizing that there is a fundamental difference between ‘technical innovation’ and thereafter applying it. Hence, Chinese companies like DeepSeek have come up; they are going rapidly ahead in ‘technical innovation’. They do not wish to be followers anymore. This will pose a challenge to US supremacy in AI, which is destined to change the world. The US will pose impediments in China’s path, but will it succeed? It is difficult to predict how deep and extensive will be the transformation of individual lives and international power equations, but it is certain that this will happen, and that too early.

Where does India stand in all this and other frontier and emerging areas of science and technology (S&T)? The truth is that while India’s economic growth has led it to become the fifth largest global economy, there is a wide and perhaps growing gap in S&T not only with the West but also with China. Jawaharlal Nehru was acutely aware that European domination of the world, beginning with the 18th and 19th centuries that led to all the horrors of colonialism in Asia, Africa and South America, had occurred because of its Industrial Revolution. Hence, his determination that India should catch up in S&T, both in terms of human capital and industrialization. In this context, it is good to become aware of the advances Indians had made in S&T in ancient times and convey that to the world, but is that really the path to becoming a strong and powerful country — a genuine pole in a multipolar world?

The answer is obvious. All the digging out of glories from our ancient past, which was ravaged by invaders, will not help us meet the challenges of today. They may satisfy emotional urges of certain sections of the people, and their long-standing feelings of hurt and anguish may be addressed too, but they will not address the strategic threat that the country faces from China. In the current year and beyond, China’s involvement in India’s immediate neighborhood will only increase. Its intrusion in India’s western neighborhood, substantial for decades, will continue. The situation in Bangladesh is ripe for its pernicious intervention and it will increase its presence in the Indian Ocean Region.

In such circumstances, it is the collective will of cohesive people — shedding prejudices, not dwelling on the past but taking India forward to become a leader in S&T innovation and applications and strong in defense — that is needed to safeguard India’s interests.
(The author is a former Ambassador)