In the wake of Modi's announcement of Indo-US security partnership, there are now a spate of articles appearing, proposing how India and the US could collaborate on the South China Sea
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/order-from-chaos/posts/2016/06/10-us-india-south-china-sea-liow
http://thediplomat.com/2016/06/setting-the-record-straight-on-us-india-south-china-sea-patrols/
Given the obvious security angle for containment of China, I've noticed a number of Chinese nationalist commentators on the internet going beyond their usual sneering at India to quickly remind everyone that India is dependent on China for its water supply. Clearly, word seems to have spread quite fast among Chinese that their govt can use the threat of water strangulation to coercively deal with India, even if they don't wish to go for outright war. What counter-strategy India would formulate to deal with such a potential tactic remains to be seen (however, I'm sure that if any such event comes to pass, our treacherous Left will be shrieking that Modi brought a water crisis upon India). India needs to discuss its water security predicament with the USA, in order to get some help on this issue. While the US was able to use the World Bank to act as a guarantor for Pakistan's water supply from India via the Indus Waters Treaty, the Americans have given no regard at all on how India is supposed to secure its water rights as a lower riparian state from China. If their island-building capacity is intimidating to island nations, their river-damming capability would be even more so to India.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/modi-has-made-china-belligerent-says-congress/article8715051.ece
Meanwhile, China appears to be stepping up its attempts to acquire US jet engine technology, at least trying to stockpile US jet engines:
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2016/0610/Is-China-trying-to-stockpile-US-jet-engines
2 comments:
The solution to India's water security cannot be a centralized solution. It is in harnessing every drop of rain water in panchayats, forests, villages, towns and cities. It also is about putting a stop to mad urbanization with those fancy faucets and washing of cars.
But such a environment friendly development model is bad for the economy- we can grow only by having more cars, having more cities, urbanizing like crazy and consuming up all the ground water to clean our cars, cutting down rain forests to produce tissue papers to wipe our sweat and sundry anti-nature consumption models.
What does Modiji offer? More of the same. 2 years down we see no change here. When will Modi work for the common Indian? He seems to be in a perpetual hurry to bring in investment for the country. And blogs like these don't publish anti-Modi comments. He wants to ensure India hangs to the coat tails of the US business community. It is as if the Government has an agenda of its own, irrespective of the party in power.
The US is using Modi to contain China. China is too big for the US to dirty its hands. It is not a Libya, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan. Hey brown coolie, bring forth your soldiers to protect my white assets. Let me throw some investment crumbs and weapons your way.
Uhh, buddy, when India's river system is fundamentally based off water coming from Tibet, then how the hell do you intend to preserve it if that water supply is cut off? Are you crazily claiming you'll compensate for such a cutoff by licking dew off of every leaf and tree? Don't be ridiculous.
Buddy, growing our economy is so that we can have more jobs - you know, earning a livelihood for yourself instead of begging in the streets. But you're saying you don't like this, and would rather dance in the fields and meadows while herding cows and playing a flute, eh?
Why are you waiting for Modi to improve your life - why don't you take personal responsibility for your own standard of living, instead of sitting around like a damsel in distress waiting for Charming Prince to come rescue you? You seem to be perfectly blind to the fact that the Congress controls the Upper House and is able to block any vital legislation - this glaringly obvious fact seems lost on you.
Fending off an aggressive China is also an Indian interest and will require combined efforts, when China is too big for any one power to oppose alone. China prefers to defeat its opponents individually, one-by-one.
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