What's new

India's global power aspirations a far fetched idea

trident2010

SENIOR MEMBER
Joined
Jun 10, 2010
Messages
2,775
Reaction score
-9
Country
India
Location
United Kingdom
'India's global power aspirations a far fetched idea'


KARACHI: Although India is being considered a rising economic giant and a major political player in the region, analysts believe there is not a remote chance that the nuclear-armed country can become a global power to match US might.



With India making waves in the international community through its rapid economic growth and thaw in relations with arch-foe China, the South Asian country is being keenly watched by international affairs experts.



Pakistani observers say India may be a major power in Asia, but it certainly doesn't have the potential and resources to dethrone US as the sole global power.



Former federal minister and writer Javed Jabbar outright rejected the idea, claiming that at the moment India neither has resources nor other ingredients that could make it a global power at par with America.



“There is talk of India getting permanent membership of United Nations Security Council and becoming a global power. I say that there is hardly any possibility that India will get the membership or God forbid veto power. Even China is not a global power as yet despite being an economic giant. But US is a global power because it has used it resources, it has intellectual and economic power, and the Americans think and plan for future after disasters.



“They have control over media and then, above all, they have military power having military advisers in some 100 countries which makes them a global power. These are not Jewish conspiracies. The Americans have earned all this through knowledge and hard work. There might be some miracles in 50 or 65 years from now but before that I don't see India as a global power,” said Jabbar.



He was speaking at a seminar, “India as an Aspiring Global Power: Regional and International Implications; The West's Response”, organised by the Area Study Centre for Europe (ASCE), University of Karachi, on Wednesday.



The former senator, however, believed that Pakistanis should not be fixated or paranoid because of the Indian economy or large population and instead should focus on ameliorating their economy which would help make this a prosperous country.



Lt-Gen Moinudding Haider (retd), a defence analyst, agreed with Javed, saying that although India had better economy than Pakistan, it still faced abject poverty and did not have the potential of becoming a global power owing to lack of elements the US had.



“To become a global power a country needs to have a long reach of strategic weapons, technology, research, robust economy, and military. India doesn't have the kind of technologically-advanced weapon system like the US has.



“US is truly a modern state where they have excellent health care system, education, their athletes win most of the gold medals at Olympics, while they are still considered an economic giant despite financial crisis. And then they have massive military. Whereas India is a poor country where if anybody throws a banana peel, a child will pick it up to eat. How it can become a global power despite this sort of poverty,” asked the general.



Gen Moin said India had hegemonic designs through its involvement in Afghanistan as it wanted to have a partner to tackle Pakistan from another side.



“India has been involved in so-called development projects. They are building schools, hospitals, roads…things which a common man can see. This is to gain sympathies of the Afghans. Once the Americans leave, India would want the Afghans to ask them to send its army for security purpose. And it will be certainly to deal with Pakistan from another front.”



Shedding light on Indo-Afghanistan relations, Ms Uzma Shujaat of ASCE said the neighbouring country had been involved in several “development projects” to serve its national interest, especially 218-kilometre Delaram-Zaranj road for movement of goods.



“This strategic road built by India will certainly have a negative impact on Pakistan as it will give Afghanistan access to sea from Iran's side. Since 2001 India has a different kind of relationship with Afghanistan,” she said.



The scholar said that in order to curb militancy, taking Taliban on board would be a prudent approach which can yield positive results.



“Without involving Taliban in talks, we cannot have peace. It is now vital to bring Taliban on board and that's why now the US is talking about good and bad Taliban and seems ready to talk to them.”



Farhan Hanif Siddiqui from the Department of International Relations, University of Karachi, said that Sino-Pakistan relations would not have a negative impact, although Indo-China ties had taken a giant leap.



“India and China initially had good relations in late 1940s and shared communist ideology, but later they faced hostility from each other because of border disputes. But recently during visit of Indian President Pratibha Patel, the two countries have remarkably improved relations. China even assured that it would back India's bid to become a permanent UNSC member and also talked of trade balance with India which is quite significant,” he said.



He, however, felt that the idea of India and China becoming global powers was far fetched.



Dr Pervez Iqbal Cheema from the Islamabad Policy Research Institute said that India had been planning to have three aircraft carriers to have stranglehold on Indian Ocean, although powers like UK and France had lesser number of aircraft carriers.



But Gen Moin believed that India might not become a dominating factor in the Indian Ocean despite its plans to equip its Navy with three aircraft carriers.



DAWN.COM | Pakistan | 'India's global power aspirations a far fetched idea'
 
.
What a time waste article. I regret to come here and read it.

Sorry !

Fighter
 
. .
what a waste of bandwidth..who says india is becoming at par with US...i cant see that happening in my lifetime..
 
.
indian will never ever be a global power if it happened world willl never accept it because it is just one hindu country in the world but it is just because it is not going to happen even in dreams china,Arab World,Pakistan,USA will be the first one to stop india
 
.
We do not need to be Super Power, even if we have decent clout that will be fine, but having ambitions means you work hard even if you does not come number 1 you could be number 2 or 3.Sitting idle and not trying is not an option, that way even China is having issues, in-spite of being so big.
 
.
indian will never ever be a global power if it happened world willl never accept it because it is just one hindu country in the world but it is just because it is not going to happen even in dreams china,Arab World,Pakistan,USA will be the first one to stop india

SPOT ON !!!...my friend
You put some real thought into it.:mps:
 
Last edited:
.
Someone lock this please. Clearly this was only posted to ignite a flamer!
 
. .
indian will never ever be a global power if it happened world willl never accept it because it is just one hindu country in the world but it is just because it is not going to happen even in dreams china,Arab World,Pakistan,USA will be the first one to stop india


Can't you people think above a religion? Such a puny mentality.
 
Last edited:
.
There is one ancient rule of global power projection. You must first thoroughly dominate your immediate neighbourhood. The US position viz Canada and Mexico being one exhibit in support of this argument. But history is replete with examples.

Given China and Pakistan's position re India, India can never completely dominate its immediate neighbourhood and will therefore never be freed from existential level concerns emanating from multiple geographically contiguous neighbours. Thus, India will not be a projector of global power.
 
.
There is one ancient rule of global power projection. You must first thoroughly dominate your immediate neighbourhood. The US position viz Canada and Mexico being one exhibit in support of this argument. But history is replete with examples.

Given China and Pakistan's position re India, India can never completely dominate its immediate neighbourhood and will therefore never be freed from existential level concerns emanating from multiple geographically contiguous neighbours. Thus, India will not be a projector of global power.


Yes you are right. China is a global power though without dominating India !

:victory:
 
.
^^ Actually, it is. Because it dominates India in every sphere. I refer you to the latest Foreign Affairs which puts India within China's sphere of influence, and says that India will try to resist. Attempting to resist is ok... after all Poland and France tried to resist Germany too. But the reality is that India is unable to pose a strategic challenge to China. China is already a global power. Just look at their role in SCO. India is asking to join SCO even though the "S" in SCO is all about China, and the funding for SCO projects is almost exclusively from China. China is to SCO what the US is to NATO. If India were confident of posing a strategic challenge to China it would not be attempting to become a second tier player in a global organization run and controlled by China. And I say this as one of a hundred possible ways to frame the argument. Look at human development, infrastructure, economy etc. etc. there is no per-capita comparison.
 
.
There is one ancient rule of global power projection. You must first thoroughly dominate your immediate neighbourhood. The US position viz Canada and Mexico being one exhibit in support of this argument. But history is replete with examples.

Given China and Pakistan's position re India, India can never completely dominate its immediate neighbourhood and will therefore never be freed from existential level concerns emanating from multiple geographically contiguous neighbours. Thus, India will not be a projector of global power.

hmm... France and England come to mind as the global powers of the centuries before the 1st world war. Whats the distance between them again??

Anyway, I dont conform to the theory of India being a global power as yet. A few decades down the line.. who knows ?? Right now even China is not one.. On its way.. yes, sure.. but no way near...

btw, the immidiate neighbourhood of China includes Russia and Japan. Doesnt it??
 
.
India's global power aspirations are just populist tripe by the Congress to attract the well educated people. Unfortunately it works. Another side-effect is the insecurity it causes among India's neighbors.
 
.
Back
Top Bottom