India should refuse America’s ‘NATO Plus’ bait

Contact Counsellor

Last Updated05/07/2023

Recently. US Permanent Representative to North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) invited India to join the alliance during a virtual press briefing in March on the NATO focus on South Asia & Indo-Pacific region”.
Reflecting the same sentiment, the U.S. House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the US & Chinese Communist Party (CCP) recommended strengthening the ‘NATO-Plus’ framework by including India in the grouping.

About: A transatlantic military alliance of 31 countries, with the majority of members from Europe.
Last member: Finland is its 31st member (April 2023).

About: It refers to a security arrangement of NATO and the five treaty allies of the U.S. — Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Israel, and South Korea as members — to enhance “global defence cooperation” and win the “strategic competition with the Chinese Communist Party”.
Not officially recognised concept within NATO: It has been used in discussions and debates regarding the potential expansion of the alliance.
Terms of inclusion: The inclusion of these countries would require a complex process of negotiation of their compatibility with NATO’s principles, obligations, and defence commitments.

Providing a security umbrella: Joining NATO will provide India with protection and deterrence against potential threats.
Strengthening India’s defence capabilities and modernisation efforts: India could also gain access to advanced military technologies, intelligence-sharing platforms, and interoperability with other member-states.

On relations with other countries: Getting into any NATO framework will annoy Russia and China. Should it join, India’s solidified strategic partnership with Russia will crumble.
On India’s freedom of action: While aligning with NATO may be tempting due to the threats posed by China, having a military framework will limit India’s freedom of action and prevent it from pursuing an independent policy towards China.
On hopping into the Taiwan strategy of the U.S. under NATO Plus: It will complicate India’s security, with the possibility of Chinese justification for further military build-up along the India-China border.
On India’s defence and security policies: India will need to align its defence and security policies with the objectives and strategies of the alliance, thereby potentially undermining India’s autonomy.

While NATO has certain competencies to deal with such issues, its larger geopolitical agenda starting from Eurasia to the Indo-Pacific may divert resources and attention away from these pressing issues and, therefore, will not be of much help to India.
For the time being, India’s posturing through the Quad looks more promising than the NATO Plus bait, though China remains an elephant in the room during its summits.