WHICH SIDE THE TOAST IS GHEED ON:

India a 'stabilising force' in world politics: Rice (S Rajagopalan, May 28, 2005, Hindustan Times)

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said that she regards India as not only a rising economic power but a country that is emerging as "a potentially very stabilizing and positive force in international politics".

That's why the US is spending a lot of time on this "very key relationship" with India and is "fully willing and ready to assist" in its transformation as a global power, she said in an interview.

She sought to emphasise that the US was committed to becoming "a reliable partner" of India which, as she put it, is "a natural friend" and "a great multi-ethnic democracy".

In her interview to Bloomberg News, a transcript of which was released by the State Department, Rice compared and contrasted the two emerging global powers - China and India.

While India's growing influence will be "largely positive", she was sceptical about China on several counts. If a country of the size of China does not play by the rules, it will end up being "disruptive to the international economy", she commented.

Rice also brought up other issues vis-a-vis China: democratisation, human rights, religious freedom, and transparency and openness in politics.

India's was "a remarkable story" in contrast, she said adding that with over a billion people in a multi-ethnic land, India "repeatedly manages to have democratic elections (and) a peaceful change of parliament".

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Interview With Al Hunt, Janine Zacharia and Matt Winkler of Bloomberg News (Secretary Condoleezza Rice, Washington, DC, May 26, 2005)

MS. ZACHARIA: [S]hifting a bit to India, where relations seem to have improved, there seems to be a growing dependence of their country on outsourcing of U.S. services there and has that -- that seems to have benefited India, for sure. But what's the benefit for the United States?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, again, when this issue came up several months ago, I think that the answer that rings truest is that in order for the United States to be competitive and to make certain that jobs are here, you have to have an environment in which this is the very best place to do business. And that's what I think the President and his economic advisors spend a lot of time doing. And the President has talked about dealing not just with our near-term problems, but with our long-term liabilities, like Social Security, which depressed the capacity for the United States to be over the long term the very best place to do business. Tort reform and all of the things that they're pursuing.

But India is a rising economic influence of power in the international system. It's a great multiethnic democracy. I think it's a natural friend for the United States. The Indians are emerging from a philosophy of heavy statist involvement in the economy. They are emerging similarly from policies that were -- that were not aligned, but had a strong -- I won't call it anti-America, but tended to juxtaposed India to the United States in most of its policies -- and instead, I think, emerging as a potentially very stabilizing and positive force in international politics, which is why we're spending a lot of time on that relationship. We're spending a lot of time on South Asia.

And if you could imagine a circumstance in which what was once called the "Arc of Crisis" is instead an Afghanistan that is democratic and has a strong defense relationship with the United States, as the President -- and a strong strategic relationship with the United States, as the President and President Karzai just announced when he was here this week. A Pakistan that is democratizing and doing that in a way that roots out extremism because I think you have to say that Pakistan was very far along the road of extremism and Musharraf has made a strategic choice to turn that around.

And then in India, which is democratic, multiethnic, reforming in terms of the economy, entering the world economy in a major way, and that the United States can retain good and -- good relations with all of those and deepening relations with all of those, it's a very good strategic position for the United States in terms of security, in the fight against terrorism, as well as when you look to the West, what it means for the Middle East, and when you look to the East, what it means for East Asia more broadly.

So India is a very key relationship here and we're spending a lot of time on it. When I went out there, we talked about a stronger economic relationship, stronger energy cooperation, stronger defense cooperation and becoming a reliable partner for India as it makes its move as a global power. And we used the words that we're fully willing and ready to assist in that growth of India's global power and the implications of that, which we see as largely positive.