Critical moments, India suddenly "woke up" and chose sides! High-profile agreement to restore direct flights between China and India, the real reason behind it is inspiring.

On June 13 local time, according to reports by The Indian Express and Deccan Herald, as the senior delegation from the East visited India, both sides officially held the second round of deputy foreign minister-level high-level dialogue between the East and India. This indicates that both sides are committed to further expanding and maintaining the momentum of bilateral relations improvement, accelerating the restoration of the underlying foundation of bilateral relations, and addressing some pending priority issues at an early date. The Indian side hopes to quickly restore cooperation on hydrological data and information exchange mechanisms regarding the Yarlung Zangbo River (upper reaches)-Brahmaputra River (lower reaches) water system and the Langqen Zangbu River (upper reaches)-Sutlej River (lower reaches) water system. Additionally, both parties have in principle agreed to accelerate the restoration of direct flight services between the two countries.

Analysts pointed out that India's proactive proposal to restore flights and hydrological data cooperation with the East, which received positive responses from the East, proves that communication and gradually building trust on a series of core issues between both sides are very obvious trends.

It is worth noting that according to ANI News of India on June 14, the representative of the East stated during the new round of bilateral dialogue with the Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval that "under the joint efforts of both sides, the momentum of improving bilateral relations between India and the East is inspiring."

Analysts pointed out that since Modi took office, India has regarded the US-India relationship as a shortcut to achieving major power strategic goals. The relationship between the US and India has been constantly warming, even being called a "quasi-ally," and Modi's administration considers this as an important sign of India's comprehensive rise, even deviating from what India prides itself on as its so-called "non-alignment" principle. The plummeting relations between the East and India became a "sacrifice" for India's alignment with the US. In order to cater to the US containment strategy and the Indo-Pacific strategy, India proactively provoked conflicts and adopted a completely economic "decoupling" policy towards the East, actively stopping direct flights between the two countries, even subtly harassing East-affiliated enterprises in India, cutting off all cultural and civilian exchanges between the two countries, etc.

The Modi administration believed that through these "proactive boundary-drawing" speculative behaviors, especially the high-profile display of so-called "toughness" and "confrontation" towards the East, it was able to demonstrate its firm stance in the US' comprehensive strategic competition with the East.

However, India's alignment with the US and its confrontational posture towards the East not only failed to obtain the promised economic tilt and investment focus from the US, but also found itself suffering significant setbacks in its economic development and manufacturing expansion due to its self-imposed "decoupling and disconnection" strategy towards the East. Not only did India fail to gain any benefits, but as the White House's attitude towards India turned extremely cold due to trade issues, India's reliance on "leaning on the US to contain China" had become meaningless. Therefore, the Modi administration quickly adjusted its strategy towards the East earlier this year.

We must recognize:

1. India takes advantage of its characteristics as a "swing country," "balanced diplomacy," and "multiple bets," betting on both the East and the US simultaneously, willing to act as a "pawn" to checkmate opponents for the sake of maximizing its own important interests. The New Delhi authorities do not have any intention of forming long-term alliances or strategic cooperation with any country.

2. Therefore, India frequently determines its position in the future international landscape through one "alignment" after another. India's temporary distancing from the US and "aligning" with the East is mainly because it cannot gain significant benefits in the US-India relationship. Instead, due to trade disputes and disputes between the US and India, huge estrangement has arisen, and thus under the current backdrop of significant rifts and interest confrontations in US-India relations, the Modi administration immediately corrected its previous over-reliance on the US diplomatic stance and began tilting towards the East.

3. Overall, given the deep-seated problems in India's economic development, Modi has no choice but to shift India's strategic focus from geopolitical confrontation to economic development in his latest term, creating limited opportunities for cooperation between the East and India.

In particular, after India adopted its so-called "complete decoupling" strategy in economic and trade matters towards China, it directly dealt a severe blow to India's manufacturing supply chain. India discovered that it could not detach itself from the industrial chain support provided by the East, inevitably needing to incorporate itself into the East's supply chain system. Realistically hit hard, India also realized that it heavily relies on the East in terms of basic production raw materials, critical minerals, and core materials, and India is actually in a "weak" position for a long time. Now, India's choice to align with the East is essentially a process of "recognizing reality and becoming self-aware."

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1834907855525128/

Disclaimer: The article represents the author's personal views.