India & NATO have been in touch: MEA
- India held its first political dialogue with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in December 2019 which was attended by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Defence.
- India’s stand of this dialogue was mainly political in character and avoided making any commitment on military or other bilateral cooperation.
- Therefore, Indian delegation attempted to assess cooperation on regional and global issues of mutual interest.
What is NATO?
- The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, or NATO, is a political and military alliance of 28 European countries and two countries in North America (United States and Canada).
- It was set up in 1949 by the US, Canada, and several western European nations to ensure their collective security against the Soviet Union.
- NATO treaty is also referred as ‘Washington Treaty’.
- Currently, there are 30 members in NATO, which has headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. The headquarters of the Allied Command Operations is near Mons, also in Belgium.
- It was the US’s first peacetime military alliance outside the western hemisphere.
- Article 5 of the NATO provides for the ‘collective defence’ mechanism which means that an attack against one Ally is considered as an attack against all Allies
What are the origins of NATO?
- At the end of WWII, as battered European nations started to rebuild their economies the US, which believed that an economically strong, re-armed, and integrated Europe was critical to prevent the westward expansion of communist USSR, embarked on a programme to supply economic aid to the continent on a massive scale.
- Later the western nations raised their collective voice against Soviet pressure over control of the Bosporus and Dardanelles Strait (which connect the Black Sea and Sea of Marmara, and the Sea of Marmara and Aegean Sea, respectively) — and in 1947-48.
- In 1948, Stalin’s government sponsored a coup in (erstwhile) Czechoslovakia, which led to the installation of a communist regime in a country sharing borders with both Soviet-controlled East Germany and the pro-West West Germany
- All these events led the US to conclude that an American-European alliance against the USSR was necessary.
- The Europeans too were convinced of the need for a collective security solution, and in March 1948, the UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg signed the Brussels Treaty of collective defence, which meant that if any of the signatories faced an attack, they would be defended by all the others.
- later, US Congress passed the Vandenburg Resolution which was stepping stone of NATO and finally The treaty was signed in Washington DC on April 4, 1949.
What is the significance of India’s talks with NATO?
- India’s talks with NATO hold significance given that the North Atlantic alliance has been engaging both China and Pakistan in bilateral dialogue
- As, NATO had also been in political dialogue and military cooperation with Pakistan; it opened selective training for Pakistani officers and its military delegation visited Pakistan in November 2019 for military staff talks.
- Being the part of NATO discussion forum , it would add a key dimension to India’s growing engagement with US and Europe.
Area of convergence and divergence between India and NATO:
- There are areas of convergence in the perspectives of both India and NATO on China, terrorism, and Afghanistan, including Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan.
- However, there are mainly three critical issues on which India expected only limited common ground with NATO
- In Afghanistan, NATO saw the Taliban as a political entity, which was not in line with India’s stance.
- However, the Indian side felt maritime security was a principal area of conversation in the future, given a substantial common ground with NATO.
Conclusion
- As India is a major global partner and holds geo-strategic position and unique perspectives on various issues which are relevant to international security.
- Therefore, engaging with NATO in a political dialogue would provide India an opportunity to bring about a balance in NATO’s perceptions about the situation in regions and issues of concerns to India and could be an important partner in informing the alliance about India’s own region and beyond.