China’s View of South Asia and the Indian Ocean

[Ken White]

Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski's advice to Carter to have proxies to fight US battles comes to mind.

And some feel that US is a dithering nation with no short term, medium term or long term policy to remain relevant and be the Number Uno!

Using proxies, including by the US, is a lot older than Zbig Brzezinski. Still works, too...

The US has only two long term policies. Open commerce and non tolerance of threats. That's been true for over 200 years and is not going to change (though the degree of tolerance acceptable and the domestic impact of open commerce can cause aberrations and adjustments due to the political climate in Washington)

It has a large number of medium term policies, strategic and commercial involvement with India being examples -- two different examples that may cause tension -- and that policy is likely to remain from Administration to Administration because it just makes sense (in both aspects). What will change is the relative amount of emphasis each of those policies receives and HOW the policies are implemented.

That implementation will become short term policy and it will vary in accordance with the nominal ability of a given policy maker in DC to affect the course of things and / or with the whims of Congress. Harken back to John Foster Dulles and our then treatment of India. If the Democrats had been in control (more friendly to socialism) things likely would have been different.

No one has said we do not have policies -- just that they are not consistently applied...