In the world of friends and enemies

As the year 2017 comes to an end, it’s a good time to look back and reflect on the major landmarks in Indian foreign policy and India’s engagement with other states in the international system. The year started with the visits of several  heads of the States to India which included the Prime Ministers of Portugal and Serbia and Presidents of Kenya and Rwanda. With all these countries fruitful dialogues were conducted in the areas of trade, maritime security and defence cooperation. Economic cooperation too was given considerable emphasis.

Next in line was the important visit of Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince who was invited as a State guest for the Republic Day ceremony. This visit resulted in the signing of more than 10 MoUs with UAE on issues related to cybersecurity, shipping industry, cooperation in medium and small enterprises etc.

Apart from India’s bilateral relations with other countries which got strengthened this year, its engagement with countries like Israel hogged the most limelight. Narendra Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister ever to visit Israel, which became a landmark and a high point in the Indo-Israeli relations. However, despite getting closer to Israel, India maintained its position on Palestine by voting for it at UNGA this month.

This highlighted that India maintained a delicate balance in its foreign policy which is extremely crucial and is a sign of maturity. India’s acceptance as a major player in the international system became evident with its entry into the Wassenaar Arrangement which is an elite export control grouping. India became its 42nd member without even having to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Apart from being a big diplomatic win, this is seen as a stepping stone for India to gain entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group, ie, the NSG, and the Australia Group in June 2018.

Another interesting development was India’s entry into the ‘Quad’, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, which is a grouping of four like-minded democracies USA, Japan, India and Australia. It is a coalition that aims to patrol and exert influence on waterways from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific to the (much disputed) East and South China Seas. The ‘Quad’ is being seen as a ‘mini NATO’ and some analysts are looking at India’s entry into this coalition as a departure from its nonalignment status.

In the immediate neighbourhood, India encountered China in one of the longest military stand-offs at Doklam in mid-2017. The stand-off strained Indo-Chinese relations but the situation was handled with deft diplomacy. On the Pakistan front, it was business as usual. Border skirmishes continued throughout the year. The Indian Army conducted cross-border raids on Pakistani posts to avenge the deaths of its soldiers due to cross-border firings.

The year is ending with an uproar in Parliament over the mistreatment given to Kulbhushan Jadhav’s wife and mother when they went to meet him in Pakistan earlier last week. In a rare instance, all political parties came together to condemn Pakistan on its misbehaviour.

To sum up, 2017 was a year of more ‘highs’ than ‘lows’ in Indian foreign policy. MEA’s proactive role is expected to continue in times to come as India looks forward to continue its rise globally.

The author is a junior research fellow at School of International Studies, JNU