The UK Prime Minister would grace the R-Day parade but his post-Brexit tilt towards India may give China some heartburn

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to visit New Delhi as the chief guest at the Republic Day parade in January. His tour will help further strengthen Indo-UK relations and is being seen in diplomatic circles as the UK’s post-Brexit tilt towards the Indo-Pacific region, in which India is an important player. The significance that Britain is attaching to the ties with India can be gauged from the fact that Johnson’s trip will be his first major bilateral outing since becoming the Prime Minister and the first since the UK’s departure from the European Union. Both nations have shared interests because of their past history and the fact that the UK has a 1.5 million-strong Indian diaspora, which has made valuable contributions in academia, literature, arts, medicines, science, business and politics. Closer ties with the UK will help Indians who want to work and set up businesses in the island nation in terms of easier visa access. Apart from the two nations planning to boost employment and jointly confront threats to global peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region, the idea is to transform the G7 group comprising the UK, the US, France, Japan, Germany, Italy and Canada into a broader grouping of 10 leading democracies that will be capable of thwarting China’s expansionist plans. It is with this goal in mind that Johnson has invited India, Australia and South Korea to attend the UK-hosted G7 summit in the summer of 2021, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accepted. For its part, a stronger bond with the UK will stand India in good stead as it strives for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). China has been blocking it for decades despite the fact that the other four permanent members — Russia, the UK, the US and France — are backing New Delhi’s claims. Unfortunately, the UN charter is such that it gives permanent members the power to veto any resolution, including the expansion of membership, and Beijing has been exploiting this factor to the hilt. It has thwarted India’s ambitions to sit at the UNSC high table by laying down conditions that are impossible for New Delhi to meet. Moreover, with China wanting to push Pakistan’s agenda time and again at the UNSC, India needs as many allies as it can in its corner.

Johnson’s visit is coming at a time when New Delhi is seeking more investment to shore up a tottering economy. The trade Ministers of both the nations are in talks and India would work with the UK on a range of issues. The two are trying to deepen their economic partnership in the hope that it will ultimately culminate in a free-trade agreement as the economies of both the nations have taken a body blow due to the pandemic. The total trade between the countries is worth almost 24 billion Euros and it grew by 11 per cent in the last financial year, but there is potential to ramp it up in a post-COVID world. On December 15, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is on a visit to India as a prelude to Johnson’s trip, announced a closer collaboration on an enhanced trade partnership, and met Modi to discuss a 10-year roadmap for a new era in bilateral ties. Apart from trade, the two democracies are seeking closer collaboration on tackling the Coronavirus pandemic, climate change and enhancing defence cooperation so that they can better address key issues like terrorism and maritime security. One can safely assume that China will be watching this bonhomie and Johnson’s overtures to India with some concern, if not outright alarm.