Biden-Modi Optics Will Not Deter China

The display of bonhomie between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the latter's visit to the United States (US) created an ideal optics for both the leaders, who would be seeking re-election next year.

Both sides seem to have made an early political assessment that there would be no change in the leadership in the two countries in 2024. Hence, they were seen to be accommodating to each other’s political requirements for possible electoral gains.

The Biden administration must have been deeply satisfied, when Prime Minister Modi, in his speech to the US Congress on June 23, in a veiled reference towards China, said “dark clouds of coercion and confrontation are casting their shadow on the Indo-pacific”.

In the US presidential election next year, the US policy towards China is emerging as the main issue. Biden may possibly be facing once again former republican president Donald Trump for his re-election.

Meanwhile, Trump has sharpened his criticism of Biden, whom he accused of being “pro-China” and promised a much sharper rupture between the two economies (US and China), if returned to power as president.

That is why during a fund-raising event in San Francisco on June 20, Biden called Chinese president Xi Jinping a “dictator” inviting a swift and stern Chinese response that called the remarks as “absurd and irresponsible”. Biden believes that the visit of Modi and agreements signed by the two leaders would strengthen his narrative against China.

As such, the Biden administration was deeply embarrassed when it found itself diplomatically outmanoeuvred by China in the Middle East, traditionally an area under the US influence and perpetual mediation. The problem with the successive US presidents and the country’s permanent institutions (State Department, Pentagon and Central Intelligence Agency) is that they can’t tell their people that it is no more a unipolar world, and it will never be again.

Globalisation has set in motion a process where every country on the map has its unique role to play in terms of production, manufacturing and supply of goods and services as also creation of knowledge.

That is why many former colonies of western world in Asia and Africa are drifting away from the influence of the US and its western allies. These countries are no more afraid of defying the combined coercive military and economic might of these countries.

Electorally, Prime Minister Modi is also in a similar situation as Biden. He faces a tough election next year pitted against the united opposition. For him also, it was a much sought-after visit that he could use domestically to project his image of “vishwaguru”.

Besides, he wanted to send a clear signal to his potential rivals in the party that, unlike them, he has international acceptance and endorsement from the most powerful person in the world.

However, the most significant achievement of Modi’s visit domestically would be the meetings that he held with Elon Musk and Sundar Pichai, chief executive officers (CEO) of Twitter/Tesla/SpaceX and Google respectively. Both control the most popular social media platforms of Twitter and YouTube that are crucial for strategising propaganda campaigns of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the next elections.

Elon Musk, after meeting Modi declared that he proposes to set up a Tesla manufacturing plant in India and bring SpaceX’s internet broadband connectivity for remote villages. Similarly, after meeting Modi on June 24 in Washington, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced an investment of US $10 Billion in India’s digitisation fund.

Elon Musk went many steps ahead and made it clear that “Twitter does not have a choice but to obey local governments” thereby quietly burying the freedom of speech and expression in a deep grave. Musk further added that “if we don’t obey local government laws, we will get shut down so the best we can do is to work close to the law in any given country”.

A chilling message for the fate of Indian democracy and all that is enshrined in the constitution. Like all other corporates, for Musk also, getting access to the Indian market and making money is the only driving factor.

In practical terms it would mean that Twitter would not mind obscuring from sight, taking down Tweets and accounts of those who oppose and criticise the Modi government’s policies. In a recent interview, Jack Dorsey, former CEO of Twitter, revealed how the Indian government made many requests around farmer’s protests and around journalists critical of the government.

He said that the government had threatened to shut down offices of Twitter and raid homes of employees, if it didn’t comply.

That would mean that henceforth Twitter, and maybe other social media platforms controlled by the US corporates, would provide monopolistic control to the BJP to set the agenda and narrative on a daily basis in the run up to general elections. We all know that these techno-corporates having social media platforms decide the fate of world leaders, generate hate, divide societies, and become handmaidens of demagogues.

Coming back to the China question. The problem that the US faces is that it needs allies to re-impose “international rules-based order” that China is challenging.

An order created and imposed by the US and its western allies independent of the UN charter. Much to the disliking of the US, China has become an economic power and unwilling to play by the US “rulebook”. It doesn’t mind flexing its diplomatic and economic muscle whenever and wherever required.

Any alliance with the US calls for caution as India is in a far away continent surrounded by two inimical countries, China, and Pakistan, who among themselves share cordial relations. It must be remembered that India’s border dispute with China is independent of the US-China strategic competition that the world is witnessing now.

No country, including the US, will and can force China to go back to the position of April 2020 on the line of actual control in Ladakh. The issue could only be resolved by India through military and diplomatic capability and confidence.

Only an economically strong, united, and democratic India that pursues policies to empower its masses can do so. And why not. India is now the most populous country in the world with a large youth population.

Avinash Mohananey is former Director-General of Police of Sikkim. Views expressed here are the writer’s own.