Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/taruntej/95021506/

John Paton Davies’s China Hand: An Autobiography, the posthumously-published 2012 winner of the American Academy of Diplomacy’s annual Douglas Dillon Award for distinguished writing on the conduct of U.S. diplomacy, is one of the best diplomatic memoirs we’ve read in years.

Davies, who died in 1999 at the age of ninety-one, is best known as one of the most prominent of the State Department China-specialists who were hounded out of the Foreign Service during the McCarthy era because of their alleged sympathy for the Communists in the Chinese civil war. But his memoir includes more than recollections of his experiences in China.  A fascinating surprise, for readers interested in South Asia, lay in its accounts of his meetings in India in 1942-43 with top leaders of the independence movement at a crucial period in their struggle against the British Raj. His spirited, well-written reports of his talks with these prominent figures, his incisive observations of their personalities, and his analyses of other salient features of the contemporary Indian political scene add an important dimension to his book. They provide fresh insights into the way Indian leaders viewed their struggle as well as their – and Davies’s –  assessments  of  what the United States was doing and should do in the Indian subcontinent in those years. Read more

Mumbai port: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48722974@N07/5034342298/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Trade and more generally economic relations have been a major driver of U.S.-India relations in the past decade. U.S. exports to India have grown nearly sevenfold. This makes the relationship important to both sides, and provides a degree of stability that was unknown in earlier times. This expansion is not unique to the United States: the two biggest growth stories in Indian trade are China and the oil producing countries of the Persian Gulf.

Growing trade has not eliminated trade problems, nor does it translate into easier dealings in multilateral settings. One way to address periodic frustration about stubborn trade problems would be to open the lens a bit, and work toward a more ambitious long term goal, such as a free trade agreement. It’s a difficult challenge, but steps along that path could be hugely beneficial to both countries.

Read the full article.

From Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/glennharper/3827597220/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Obituaries memorializing the diplomatic achievements of Ambassador Harry G. Barnes, Jr., who died in Vermont on August 9 at the age of eighty-six, have focused on his role in Chile, where his promotion of democratic institutions famously incurred the wrath of General Augusto Pinochet, the country’s military dictator. They ought to have paid more attention than they did to Barnes’s outstanding record as U.S. envoy to India. As the first career ambassador to hold that position in a generation, he played a major role during his 1981-1985 assignment in New Delhi in substantially improving ties between the two countries.

Read more

Photo by Aquaview, flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/28017840@N08/4121286487/

The most important result of the India-U.S. strategic dialogue is the expansion of serious bilateral conversations about problems outside the immediate South Asian neighborhood. The two countries need to extend this strategic conversation, especially to difficult issues like Iran and Pakistan.

Read our op-ed article, published in The Hindu June 26, 2012.

Gwydion M. Williams, http://www.flickr.com/photos/45909111@N00/4435389518/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Indian Foreign Minister Krishna’s visit to Beijing is showcasing the positive in India-China relations. A recent visit to Beijing and Shanghai after a long absence gave us a more complicated picture of how the rise of India and China, so central to U.S. strategic thinking, looks from the east. India is taken more seriously in China than ten years ago, but is still not seen as an equal. The United States accepts India’s global ambitions; China dismisses them as “dreams.” China works best with India on global issues, the reverse of the U.S. experience, where bilateral ties are best and global collaboration weak.

Read our article published in The Hindu June 7, 2012.

India and the United States have been at odds over nuclear issues for more than three decades, and yet both countries’ interests are powerfully affected by the spread of nuclear weapons. The Working Group on an Expanded Non- Proliferation System, chaired by Teresita Schaffer and Joan Rohlfing, President of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, set out to answer the question, “What would be necessary to have India and the United States work together as active participants in the international non-proliferation system?” The working group, which consisted of a dozen members from India and the United States, with each group drawn about equally from nuclear experts and senior foreign policy figures, recommended bringing India into the four major multilateral export control groups; its report recommends a number of other ways to enhance India-U.S. cooperation and help protect the world from nuclear dangers.

Read full report on NTI web site.

Follow links to the group’s working papers. (click on drop-down menu at top of page)

Read summary of seminar on the report and next steps in reducing nuclear dangers, at Brookings, January 5, 2012.

Photo by State Department

President Obama chose the U.S. government’s top South Asia hand, Nancy Powell, as his next ambassador to Delhi. She will need to address some long-running problems, help both governments find a compatible vision for their partnership and, importantly, keep the top leadership on both sides personally engaged.

See our article in The Hindu, December 21, 2011

Khyber Pass, photo from flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/zzzzz/157995919/

Kashmir, photo from flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/onthegotours/5038189835/

With U.S. relations in Pakistan at a low point and the two countries’ strategic disagreement over priorities in Afghanistan on full display, it is time to review U.S. strategic options. One that deserves a close look is a grand bargain: give Pakistan what it wants in Afghanistan – but on two conditions: Pakistan assumes responsibility for preventing terrorism out of Afghanistan, and Pakistan agrees to settle Kashmir along the present geographic lines. This is not a panacea, nor would it be easy to execute. But it addresses the principal stumbling block to the current U.S. strategy, and provides an incentive to settle the region’s longest-running dispute.

Read our article published on foreignpolicy.com October 20, 2011.

Photo from flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/eoincampbell/2790347402/sizes/m/in/photostream/

During India’s first nine months on the Security Council, it has worked with the United States on broad themes but often differed on country-specific issues. Council membership has a price: many votes inevitably disappoint some of India’s constituencies and international friends.

Read our op-ed in The Hindu, October 8, 2011.

Photo by Carol Mitchell, http://www.flickr.com/photos/webethere/3026782091/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Jobs and reviving the economy will shape the 2012 U.S. election and future U.S.-India relations. During the long election season, attention will focus on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and how to deal with a rising China. India does not attract the same controversy, but the unresolved economic issues on the U.S.-India agenda will be in the spotlight.

See our op-ed in The Hindu (Chennai), August 23, 2011.