The RIC process as such is not the focal point here but the strange coincidence of the immediate backdrop of India-China border tensions. The RIC process ought have evolved over time as a dynamic vector of India’s foreign policy. But that never happened.
Several reasons can be attributed to it, but principally, there are four factors:
India is not a great team player and feels self-confident while pursuing its interests via bilateral channels;
India is wary of giving any impression that it is ‘ganging up’ with two great ‘revisionist’ powers in the US’ crosshairs on global chessboard — Russia and China;
India feels constrained in the Russia-India-China triangle due to its troubled relationship with China; and, most important,India Punchline
India is intensely conscious that Washington regards the RIC as a hostile entity, which could weaken or undermine the American strategies in Asia and globally; a fully-loaded RIC is not an option for India given its manifest alignment with the anti-China ‘Quad’ platform....
India awakens to hidden charms of RIC
M. K. Bhadrakumar | retired diplomat with the Indian Foreign Service
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