China’s Rise emerged as the standout point of convergence in a survey of young thought leaders in South India
Indian millennials and Gen-Z wants more openness, engagement and cooperation on all fronts of the US- India relationship, according to a survey of a group of young thought leaders in South India.
These areas include the China question, the aftermath of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, digital tech and e-commerce, according to a Sigur Center for Asian Studies’ Rising Powers Initiative policy brief released Tuesday.
A survey was conducted following an interactive workshop on Convergences and Divergences in US-India Perspectives held by The George Washington University (Washington DC) and Christ University (Bangalore) in Bangalore in Fall 2021.
Asked to give the top three convergences and top three divergences they see in US-India relations, China’s Rise emerged as the standout point of convergence with over half of the participants citing it as one of three main points.
Read: US to support India’s continued rise and regional leadership (February 15, 2022)
Further, participants tended to give two specific strategies for India and US with respect to countering China’s rising power: ‘Move Away From Chinese Imports’ and ‘Keep the Indo-Pacific Free and Open’.
Surprisingly, Climate Change tied with Defense Cooperation as the second largest point of convergence.
This finding is interesting because the topic seems to rank high for Indian Millennials and Gen Z in a bilateral relationship that is usually dominated by economic and security concerns, Sigur Center said.
Counter Terrorism, in another surprise, ranked low on convergences, whereas Pakistan and Afghanistan ranked high in divergences.
This likely harks back to discussions on the precipitous exit by the US from Afghanistan and how it may hamper counter terrorism cooperation, according to the policy brief.
Not surprisingly, participants seem to believe that despite the defense cooperation suffering in the past as a result of Indo-Russian cooperation, there is a significantly positive defense relationship between India and the US.
Low-Cost Innovation is a seemingly new convergence. Although ranking low on the scale, it could be a newer point of convergence that is slowly gaining prominence, the survey found.
Compared to convergences, the divergences identified by respondents revealed no overwhelmingly clear point of contention in the relationship. Among many equally weighted divergences, concerns about Pharma Patents ranked the highest.
To extrapolate from the workshop exchanges, it can be discerned that the ongoing pandemic and the rush for vaccines has brought the younger Indians’ attention towards an ongoing point of bilateral friction between high-cost innovation and low-cost production and supply of medication to economically marginalized populations, the policy brief noted.
Pharma Patents are closely followed by Regulation Rigidity and Data Flows. This points towards a reverse problem as compared to pharma patents—of a lack of implementation of data privacy protections by the US government whereas the Indian government pushes for more.
But on the regulatory issue, the US regulates much more than India which wants greater flexibility to grow.
While participants clearly agreed that there was much convergence in combatting the rise of China, they identified the strategies pursued to counter China as a point of divergence.
This could be because they believe that both countries are pursuing strategies that are currently proving counterproductive. It calls for discussions on how India and the US can better cooperate in achieving a shared goal, Sigur center said.
Somewhat surprisingly, students noted Exceptionalism, Democratic Values and Soft Power, as points of divergence, according to the brief.
Read: Survey finds Indians sharing positive views on US intervention in Indo-Pacific region (June 19, 2017)
However, the divergence seems to boil down to one main issue—how India and the US use political values to achieve their strategic goals.
During the workshop discussion it was clear that there was some agreement that both countries perceive themselves to be exceptional in their own right.
Instead of being an easy point of convergence, this has caused misunderstanding between the two as they assert their own exceptionalism.
This is also reflected in the convergence chart where Democracy Promotion per se ranked low. It is an interesting area for future researchers to explore, the brief said.
Overall, it may be surmised that the younger Indian demographic sees more immediate and stronger areas of convergence between the US and India, whereas as the divergences are rather more ambiguous and diffuse.
The findings are based on 187 responses to the survey sent to 350 attendees of a workshop on the topic of US-India relations.
The Sigur Center for Asian Studies is an international research center of the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University.