Korybko To C. Raja Mohan: India Won’t Become The West’s Unipolar Proxy In The Global South

The whole reason why developing countries are gradually gravitating around that South Asian Great Power right now is because it’s regarded as an autonomous, balanced, and neutral actor in the New Cold War, not a partisan one. India can join the G7 while also continuing to practice its pragmatic policy of principled neutrality to the New Cold War with a view towards assembling the Neo-NAM and thus facilitating the global systemic transition’s emerging tripolar phase.

C. Raja Mohan is a noted Indian intellectual whose weekly articles represent his class’ liberal-globalist worldview. The common thread connecting everything that he’s published in the year since Russia’s special operation started is his suggestion that India subordinate itself to the US-led West’s Golden Billion in the New Cold War. This policy proposal was once again pushed in his latest article for Foreign Policy magazine where he declared that “It’s Time To Tie India To The West”.

According to him, India should be made a formal member of the G7 in exchange for functioning as the West’s unipolar proxy in the Global South. Mohan explicitly suggests that his country “can counter growing Chinese and Russian diplomatic, economic, and military influence among developing countries” on behalf of its Western partners. In particular, he proposed that “If India were to partner more closely with the West, on the other hand, it could offer much stiffer competition to China”.

Mohan identified rapidly remilitarizing Japan as India’s top Western partner in this respect. In his view, “Japan, as the only Asian voice in the G-7, can also help bring greater nuance to Western policies and move the group closer to India on regional issues. Kishida has been particularly concerned about the West’s inability to convince large parts of the global south of the dangers of Russian aggression against Ukraine—a topic on which India’s silence is largely a relic of Soviet-Indian cooperation.”

This liberal-globalist eventually wrapped up his piece with the following appeal: “Drawing New Delhi away from Moscow and enabling it to compete with Beijing have long been U.S. objectives. This should be a goal for the G-7 as well. Tying India, especially, more strongly to the G-7 by including it in the group would also lend the West greater influence and legitimacy with the global south.” Put simply, he has no qualms about admitting that he wants India to become the West’s unipolar proxy in the Global South.

That globally significant Great Power’s decisionmakers would do well to ignore Mohan’s ill-intended “advice”, which is aimed solely at solidifying their country’s subordinate position in the Golden Billion’s hegemonic hierarchy instead of continuing to enhance its hard-earned strategic autonomy. India is leading the global systemic transition’s ongoing evolution towards tripolarity ahead of its final form of more complex multipolarity (“multiplexity”), the trajectory of which would be offset by his plans.

Unilaterally conceding on its grand strategic interests to become an independent pole of influence in a truly multipolar world wouldn’t just preserve the Sino-American bi-multipolar superpower duopoly that’s in the process of rapidly fading, but potentially even supercharge the US’ unipolar comeback. These scenarios would be disadvantageous to India’s objective national interests since they’d result in it playing second fiddle to either or both superpowers, which would neutralize its strategic autonomy.

The most optimal path forward for India is to stick with its masterful balancing act between both de facto New Cold War blocs, the US-led West’s Golden Billion and the jointly BRICS- & SCO-led Global South of which it’s a part. By aspiring to lead the latter via its latest Voice Of Global South Summit through apolitical and purely economically driven means, Delhi can assemble a third pole of influence in the fading bi-multipolar world order for restoring balance to International Relations.

This envisaged new Non-Aligned Movement (“Neo-NAM”) would give India an equal place in the global hierarchy alongside the American and Chinese superpowers, with the value-added difference significantly being that Delhi is inspiring dozens of countries to emulate its geostrategic balancing act. Instead of being forced by structural circumstances beyond their control into siding with either superpower, the Global South could more confidently multi-align between them just like India has done.

The unprecedented chance for advancing this grand strategic scenario would be dealt a deathblow by decisionmakers following Mohan’s ill-intended “advice” since no Global South country would ever trust India if it voluntarily submitted to being the Golden Billion’s proxy. The whole reason why developing countries are gradually gravitating around that South Asian Great Power right now is because it’s regarded as an autonomous, balanced, and neutral actor in the New Cold War, not a partisan one.

India can join the G7 while also continuing to practice its pragmatic policy of principled neutrality to the New Cold War with a view towards assembling the Neo-NAM to the previously explained end of facilitating the global systemic transition’s emerging tripolar phase. There’s no zero-sum choice being forced upon it nor does progress on either dimension of this grand strategic proposal exclude progress on the other. In fact, everything is complementary from the perspective of Indian interests.

Those among the mostly liberal-globalist Indian intelligentsia like Mohan who are actively lobbying for India to take sides in the New Cold War by submitting itself to the US’ unipolar hegemony are operating as agents of influence for that de facto bloc. This South Asian Great Power’s objective grand strategic interests are most optimally served by continuing to balance between the Golden Billion and the Global South in order to midwife tripolarity ahead of multiplexity, which will make India a world power.