Deciphering President Biden's agenda

DC Pathak

(The writer is a former Director Intelligence Bureau)

President Joe Biden's address to the nation from the White House on March 11, was meant to be devoted to the domestic policy revolving round the Corona crisis but it could also be seen as complementing his foreign policy framework that he had made public at the State Department on February 4.

Dramatically faulting the earlier regime for meeting the virus 'with silence and spread unchecked' and disclosing that more Americans had died in this pandemic than the lives lost by US in all the wars combined that it had faced, the President talked of 'a generation of children who may be set back up to a year or more', regretted that states were pitted against one another instead of being made to work with each other and condemned the vicious hate crimes unleashed against Asian Americans 'who were scapegoated'. He declared that as President of the United States using all the power that he had, he was putting the nation on a war footing 'to defeat the virus'. He announced that there will be enough vaccine supply for all adults in America by the end of May, stated that thousands of vaccinators were being mobilized for the purpose and significantly also added that there was focus on serving the communities hardest hit like Black, Latino, Native American and the rural people.

Striking an emotional cord, he claimed that 'millions of grandparents who went months without being able to hug their grandkids can now do so' and gave out that no other country in the world had reached a 'goal of 100 million shots in arms within 60 days' that his government had achieved. He presented a Rescue Plan of $1,400 per head being given to each family that had become jobless, lost its business or landed in destitution. President Biden called for national unity, warned the world outside never to 'bet against the American people' and resonated what he had declared on February 4 – that 'America is coming back'.

Restoring socio-economic normalcy, post-Covid, having become the main preoccupation of the Biden Presidency, its approach to international relations, world economy and global security can be gleaned only from the President's speech at the State Department where he declared that 'diplomacy is back at the centre of our foreign policy' and emphasized that 'we will repair our alliances' and 'engage with the world once again'. He talked of meeting 'the new moment of advancing authoritarianism' naming in this regard both China for its ambition of rivalling the United States and Russia for disrupting American democracy. Biden called upon the Myanmar military to relinquish power it had seized from a duly elected government. He wanted the world to unitedly meet the global challenges – 'from the pandemic to the climate crisis to nuclear proliferation' and reiterated the total commitment of the US to defending freedom, upholding universal rights and treating every person with dignity – in the face of 'intense pressure' that these values had come under in recent years.

President Biden listed the UK, Germany, France, Canada, Mexico, Japan, South Korea and Australia among the 'closest friends' who were needed to rebuild 'the muscle of democratic alliances' after a period of 'neglect and abuse' and underlined the importance of even 'engaging our adversaries diplomatically where it is in our interest' for advancing the security of the American people. He referred to the extension of the New START Treaty with Russia, favoured dealing with that country in coordination with other like-minded partners and announced that 'the days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russia's aggressive actions were over' – implying clearly that he would treat Putin differently from what Donald Trump had chosen to do.

Describing China as 'our most serious competitor', Biden promised to confront China's economic abuses, counter its aggressive actions and push back on China's attack on human rights, intellectual property and global governance. He evidently looked at Russia as an adversary and considered China as a rival who could be effectively kept in check. Biden has in a recent interview remarked that 'killer Putin' will have to 'pay a price' for his interference with US election – he said it in the context of the allegation that there was an attempt to poison the opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, in Moscow. The thrust of American policy under Biden would be on 'restoring American engagement internationally and earning back our leadership position'. There is a running streak of criticism of Trump regime on both domestic and foreign policy turfs.

There was, incidentally, no mention of India or Pakistan or of the situation in South Asia as such in Biden's agenda and it seems the new US President is yet to take notice of the Sino-Pak military alliance that was clearly targeting India and to spell out how he viewed the rising global threat of terrorism being spread in the name of Islam. India has to watch out for President Biden's responses on matters of security import crucial for this country. In the 2016 US election, Donald Trump had charged Hillary Clinton with maintaining deliberate silence about radical Islam 'only because she was anxious about being politically correct' and this did prove to be a factor that brought victory to the former.

The 'war on terror' that became a combat between US-led West and Islamic radicals following 9/11, was essentially a Republican initiative and the subsequent Democrat regimes did not look at it in terms of the violence unleashed for the 'politics of religion'. President Biden has condemned Saudi Arabia's offensive against Yemen on 'human rights' ground even though he did uphold the right to sovereignty of Saudis against Iran's aggressiveness. There is a possibility of return of the Democrat legacy of putting India and Pakistan on an equal footing in regard to their bilateral issues in Kashmir and elsewhere. The Biden administration may also be inclined to bank on Pakistan more than what the case was with Trump, in getting the peace process back on course in Afghanistan – India has to have a strategy in place for securing a position on any round-table of interested nations that was convened by the US or the UN, for deliberating on the future governance in that country.

It is not difficult for India to reach a convergence with President Biden on dealing with China both on LAC conflicts and in the matter of the defence of Indo-Pacific against Chinese aggressiveness as part of India's strategy for the security of Indian Ocean. India has lost no time in taking to full participation in QUAD and Prime Minister Modi's presence at the first summit of this multilateral alliance on March 12 has added to the influence of India globally – and in this region in particular. The summit declaration affirmed the commitment of the participants to a "free, open, inclusive, healthy, anchored by democratic values and unconstrained by coercion" Indo-Pacific region and their resolve "to facilitate collaboration, including in maritime security, to meet challenges to the rules based maritime order in the East and South China Seas."

India has given a message to China that it was prepared to counter Chinese designs on land and at sea on its own or through collaboration with other like-minded friends. By highlighting at this summit India's full willingness to contribute to the global fight against the Corona pandemic through vaccination, Prime Minister Modi has strengthened the democratic credentials and peace-loving profile of this country. President Biden felt the summit had gone off very well – this will put Indo-US relations on a firm footing under the Biden administration. India's diplomatic channels can work with greater ease in Washington and other democratic capitals.

Mobilizing the opinion of the democratic world against the rise of faith-based terror of Islamic radicals and the complicity of Pakistan in the same – made evident by the facts on public record – is another challenge that India has to meet largely on its own. Track II efforts can be of great help here because the Western and Asian democracies both need to be counselled on the character of the problem of "radicalization" that was gradually seeping through the Muslim world and could be handled only through a combination of military and socio-political initiatives. If even a Communist dictatorship like China could become complicit with this new terror for its narrow political ends – as its alliance with Pakistan proved so decisively – then the democratic countries of the world, including the US, must sit up and check the prospect of future wars and "proxy wars" being launched on faith-based motivation – this would be so difficult to repulse and control in global terms.

It is becoming clear, however, much to India's concern, that the Biden Presidency may have its own ways of dealing with China and Pakistan and that it would not be bothered too much about the strong Sino-Pak axis that was specially targeting India. India has not only to prepare for handling a collusive act of aggression by these hostile neighbours on the borders but also step up counter measures against the covert acts of these adversaries to weaken us internally and damage our economic assets through both terror attacks and cyber breaches. President Biden has specifically earmarked a fund of $10 billion for fighting the threat of 'cyber warfare' from China and Russia – a learning for India from this is that we should also go all out to thwart the cyber attacks of China and Pakistan that would become a part of their 'proxy war' against this country. Apart from defence installations and systems, India needs to step up protection of power infrastructure, centres of strategic research and communication networks. A lot is being done in this regard through Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre and CERT- in. Covert misuse of social media, concerted attempts of anti-India lobbies within the country as well as abroad to create internal divisions and instigation of the majority— minority conflicts – all of this is very evident now and the call for internal security seems to be becoming even more important than the external military threat. (IANS)