The question of strategic autonomy is in limelight in the light of forthcoming 2+ 2 talks between India and the US. It means that the foreign secretary and defence secretary of the US will talk with the foreign minister and defence minister of India on trade, defence, military issues and almost everything that concerns the two most powerful democracies of the world. This has raised eyebrows of those who still believe in the true spirit of Non-Alignment of which India has been the champion for a long long time.

 The policy of non-alignment lost its relevance after the disintegration of Soviet Union and the emergence of a unipolar world order under the leadership of US since 1991. The history of the last thirty years is the history of the efforts of the nations of the world to establish a multipolar world to escape the American hegemony. In this endeavour, a spanner was thrown by China which started emerging not only as a super power but which seriously challenged and threatened the American hegemony in the world.

China, however, created so many enemies by poking its nose everywhere that it could and started behaving like a global hegemon without being one. China fell prey to the syndrome of trying to fly without developing wings fully.

A country which has the burdensome luggage of Hong Kong, Tibet and Taiwan to carry, should not pick up a quarrel with a new India which is battle ready and which carried out a surgical strike against Pakistan and had the guts of calling the bluff of a nuclear power nation with a sick political leadership under the tutelage of their army. It is rightly said that nation states have their armies whereas the Pakistani army has the State of Pakistan.

The timing of attempted Chinese incursion into the Indian Territory in the wake of Covid 19 was strategically very poor and bound to have a global backlash. China has definitely played a bad shot front foot forward and India should make most of it.

The question of strategic autonomy has no meaning vis-a-vis national security and sovereignty. The first and foremost duty of the leadership of a nation is to protect its territorial integrity and national sovereignty by hook or crook.

 We have to safeguard ourselves from a power which has trampled upon all her neighbours most blatantly and the whole world has seen and withstood them with deafening silence.

We, too, were badly defeated in 1962 and a large tract of Indian territory is still under their occupation and the very LAC (Line of Actual Control is what the Chinese have defined and imposed upon us.

The LAC has no support of history and no basis of ethics and morality. China has kept our territory since 1962 violating all international norms and we could do nothing with this diplomatic tool called Non- Alignment. Any policy formulation has to serve the national interest.

National interests could not be compromised for maintaining the holy cow named the policy of Non-Alignment. We learned this lesson the hard way after the debacle of 1962. Thereafter, we compromised this principle as and when required and tilted towards Soviet Union to make the required balance of power to suit the need of the hour. After all, neither friendship is permanent nor enmity, only interests are permanent. Elasticity is the guiding principle of diplomacy.

The proposed 2+2 talks would strengthen India and empower her to take on China more effectively. China is a technical aggressor and India is simply defending her territorial integrity and it is the natural right of a nation to do so.

We are capable to take on China on our own, but keeping a standby support system is always a wise and useful step. America would provide us useful logistic support and if need be, required arms and ammunition. And America would not do it for charity, it is in their interest to tame China with the help of India, which is the only nation in the region having the potential to take on the dragon. India could be the proverbial bull in a China shop, if America and Europe stand by her, which, in all likelihood, they would. The presidential election in America is round the corner and the outcome of the hustings won't affect US-India relationship as taming China is both in the interest of India and US. It is also in the interest of the world. So, this 2+2 talk with America is a good omen.

The writer is Registrar, Vinoba Bhave University, Hazaribag and a passionate writer. The views expressed in the article are his own.