Foreign policy columnist C. Raja Mohan, a professor at the National University of Singapore, in an article in the Indian Express, pleaded for a “Deng Xiaoping moment” (below) for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he begins another visit to the US.
The Indian leader “can emulate the former Chinese leader by capitalizing on the geoeconomic opportunities presented by Joe Biden’s policies.” In the 1970s and 80s, “Deng transformed the Chinese economy through access to Western capital, technology and markets.”
What we have for now, however, is the promise of “defence industrial cooperation,” so the picture is more likely to be reflected in Russia, India’s defense partner. An article on the RT website warned that the global picture was “far from the visionary Chinese leader’s time”.
In the US, Foreign Affairs reported under the headline “India As It Is” that “Washington and New Delhi have common interests, not values” and that the partnership’s rationale of “democratic values” was clearly doomed. It challenges India’s “status as a democracy”.
And it goes back to Richard Nixon’s Overture to Deng’s China. In the face of the “increasingly undemocratic” Modi government, Biden must “treat India as he treats Vietnam and other illiberal partners, in other words, he must cooperate based on the reality of interests.”
The Art of Vassalage
For two days, the English Financial Times published at the top of the most read articles that “Europe has lagged behind the US and the gap is widening”, from the decline in production to energy costs.
It is based on the analysis “The Art of Vassalage: How Russia’s War in Ukraine Transformed Transatlantic Relations” (above) by the European Council on Foreign Relations, led by Englishman Mark Leonard.
CHINA, TAIWAN & SOUTH KOREA
In preparation for Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit, which reactivated ties with China, the Wall Street Journal reported that “the US will allow South Korean and Taiwanese chipmakers to maintain their operations in China, keep them and “expand” them also.
Then, in Lianhe Bao, Taiwan, the “TSMC Big Three,” the top executives of the world’s largest chip maker, traveled to Shanghai “to visit key customers” and present advances in 2nm and 3nm technology. And the Korea Herald reported that South Korean manufacturers Samsung and SK Hynix are now pushing for their operations in China to be exempted from US export controls indefinitely.