Source: www.expressindia.com
INDIA, October 26, 2010: Ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to India, leading defense analyst Dr. K. Subrahmanyam speaks to The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta, on the Indo-U.S. relationship and dealing with China.
“I think Obama will be developing his options. A more powerful China expanding into Asia, South Asia, West Asia and East Asia is posing a challenge to the U.S. and is trying to counter the influence of democratic powers. And how to deal with this challenge is something which should preoccupy Obama,” says Subrahmanyam.
“In a manner that the U.S. was an exceptional country and the leader of the world. I think Obama understands much more this need for a network of nations, in which all other nations will have to cooperate and that the U.S. cannot any longer exercise its leadership vis-a-vis China unless it has a partner in terms of a knowledge reservoir, because China has got four times the population of the U.S. And therefore when the Chinese start producing engineers, doctors, technicians… ” “The US can still maintain its lead for some time to come. But the U.S. can be number one only if it has its lead technologically and organizationally. And this cannot be done unless the U.S. has a partner, which is equal in population with China, is democratic, pluralistic, shares the same value as the U.S., with which U.S. already has a population to population relationship. Indians contribute to American growth and American technology and American organizational skills. And therefore, Obama does not have much of an option but to make India its leading partner”, adds Subrahmanyam.
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