At the end of this month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the United States. Prior to this, a strategy committee of the US House of Representatives dedicated to China made a surprising proposal: to allow India to join the "NATO+" mechanism in order to "balance and contain" China's rise with the United States. This proposal is actually an attempt to pull India into NATO's orbit.
What is India's response?
Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar directly rejected the suggestion at a press conference, saying that the "NATO model" is not suitable for India's national conditions. Jaishankar has already given face to the United States, and some Indians have been even more outspoken: India's mint** said that the United States wants India to become a "pawn" against China, but India has the ability to deal with China's challenge on its own;India's Wion TV said India would pay a "heavy price" if it cooperated with NATOThere are also some Indias who simply say that joining NATO is to become a "stooge" of the United States, and India will never do this.
Why is India so opposed to joining NATO?
Because joining NATO means that India has to bear three unbearable costs:
First, a break with Russia.
NATO exists to confront Russia, and the current Russia-Ukraine conflict is also caused by NATO's eastward expansion, and if India joins NATO, it will be tantamount to open hostility with Russia, which is contrary to India's neutral position in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Moreover, most of the ** equipment of the Indian army is imported from Russia, and once it joins NATO, the maintenance and renewal of these ** will not be guaranteed, and India's military strength will be greatly reduced;
Second, the geopolitical environment has deteriorated dramatically.
India's accession to NATO will make neighboring countries, especially China and Pakistan, both of which have long-standing border disputes with India, and NATO's involvement will cause these disputes to escalate rapidly, eventually leading to turmoil and crisis in the entire South Asian region, and India's diplomatic environment will become very bad and not conducive to development;
Third, the loss of strategic autonomy.
Becoming a NATO country will undermine India's policy of strategic autonomy, the United States will build military bases in India, and even interfere in India on the nuclear issue, so that India will lose the opportunity to become a dream power, as India ** said, become a "lackey" of the United States. Moreover, India will also be forced to participate in various conspiracies and conflicts of the United States, such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, such as the Kosovo crisis.
In short, NATO is the source of chaos, India is still a developing country in nature, development is the first priority, if it is caught in the chaos of external struggle, its own development opportunities will disappear, which is an unbearable price for India.