World Watch: American friends abroad
At a time when the United States faces a serious image problem around the world, there is one country that is bucking the trend: India.
The recent 16-country poll from the Pew Research Center found that Indians have the most favorable image of the United States—ahead of citizens in Poland, Canada, and Great Britain. In India, 71 percent of those polled had a positive view of America, a jump from 54 percent in 2002. What's more, when asked where a young person should travel in search of opportunity, 38 percent of Indians said America, the largest percentage in any country to agree on a single land of opportunity.
While America's image received some boost from U.S. relief efforts after last December's Indian Ocean tsunami, Indian attitudes reflect deeper aspects of the multifaceted relationship between the world's two largest democracies. The poll numbers reflect the underlying economic and social ties between the countries that have developed during the last 15 years, says Teresita Schaffer, director of the South Asia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Notably, the Indian-American population more than doubled to nearly 1.7 million between 1990 and 2000, making it the fastest growing Asian-American community. For the third straight year, India has been the largest source of foreign-born students enrolling in American colleges, according to the Institute of International Education. And the outsourcing of jobs to technology-savvy India has contributed to closer business relationships between the two countries: The United States was India's largest foreign investor last year at about $3.6 billion, a figure U.S. commerce officials hope to see rise in the future.
"There is a clear, incredible change in attitude in India—seeing the U.S. as a friend and ally rather than seeing it as a big power out to bully us," says Arvind Panagariya, a Columbia University professor who specializes in Indian political economy. In the past five to six years, Panagariya says, the U.S. policy toward the region has changed drastically and has helped boost goodwill between the countries. "The U.S. has really come to treat India as a partner," he says, "and has put it on a higher level than Pakistan, seeing it more as a part of Asia rather than as part of the localized conflict in Kashmir."
One sign of these changes: The 10-year military agreement reached last week between India and the United States [An emerging alliance with India (7/1/05)]. The agreement is an about-face from the sanctions the United States imposed against India after its 1998 nuclear tests and will allow for joint weapons production, cooperation on missile defense systems, and combined training exercises. Three weeks ahead of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's scheduled visit to Washington, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the Indian Minister of Defense said the pact heralds a "new era" in India-U.S. relations.
The Bush administration has been able to pursue closer relations with India as tensions over border disputes between India and Pakistan have diminished. U.S. relations with Pakistan have improved as Pakistan has helped track terrorists on its own border with Afghanistan.
While the India-U.S. relationship is important in its own right, there is no doubt the White House is also flexing its diplomatic power in the region to keep close tabs on the economic and military growth of India's next door neighbor: China.
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