Vajpayee foresaw danger of China’s unchecked rise: USIBC chief

US India Business Council chief Nisha Desai Biswal said Vajpayee “saw the importance of a US-India partnership, built on the foundation of our democratic values, to advance a rules-based order that would enable a more peaceful, prosperous and pluralistic Asia”.

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was able to foresee what many others couldn’t and anticipated the “potential dangers posed by a rising and unchecked China”, US India Business Council chief Nisha Desai Biswal said Friday.

Speaking at the first memorial lecture on Vajpayee’s birth anniversary organised by the Ministry of External Affairs, Biswal—who has served as the US Assistant Secretary of State (equivalent to Joint Secretary in the Indian government)—said Vajpayee “saw the importance of a US-India partnership, built on the foundation of our democratic values, to advance a rules-based order that would enable a more peaceful, prosperous and pluralistic Asia”.

She said the Trump presidency has brought a “realistic and sharp focus” on the exigent priorities and rapidly changing geopolitics of Asia.

“The last several years have seen a more aggressive and assertive China that sought to leverage its growing economic clout to advance its strategic ambitions, often at the expense of its neighbours,” Biswal said.

She said Prime Minister Vajpayee foreshadowed the challenges that are now playing out across the Indo-Pacific.

And in the face of these “destabilising actions”, she said that the US and India have forged a closer partnership and cooperation.

“With the incoming Biden-Harris Administration, there will be a renewed focus on restoring our global alliances and strengthening our global institutions,” she said.

External Affairs S Jaishankar, who presided over the address, said Vajpayee had an intuitive understanding that the post-Cold War world required India to drastically rework its relationships and this vision led to a new beginning in ties with the US.

Paying tribute on his 96th birth anniversary, Jaishankar said India’s principled approach of engaging China on the basis of mutual respect and mutual sensitivity also reflects Vajpayee’s thinking.

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