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New India wants respect

By Neville Roach - posted Wednesday, 11 November 2009


The flurry of visits by federal ministers and state premiers to India clearly demonstrates that Australia is giving the bilateral relationship more priority than ever before.

However, many of these visits have appeared reactive - exercises in damage control following the Indian student crisis. Our relationship with India tends to be marked by sporadic bursts of crisis-driven activity, followed by prolonged lulls thereafter.

The problem may well be an over-familiarity that leads each country to take the other for granted. We invariably talk about all the things we have in common, but seldom focus on our differences, leaving a huge gulf in understanding on several important matters. Little wonder that the relationship is frequently stressed to breaking point over single issues, which a stronger, strategic friendship would have taken in its stride.

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The heightened awareness of each other, a fortuitous consequence of the student imbroglio, gives Kevin Rudd an unprecedented opportunity to take the relationship to a new level during his forthcoming visit to India.

While both sides will need to make special and sustained efforts to build stronger ties, it is in Australia's interest to take the lead. Without discounting Australia's importance, especially our abundant mineral resources, to India, we must appreciate this assessment of the August report of the parliamentary committee inquiry into Australia's relationship with India: "As an emerging world power, India will often have its focus elsewhere. Australia is a relatively small country - to gain India's attention, it must work hard on a number of fronts."

Another compelling reason for us to make a special effort is that India is fast becoming our biggest supplier of skilled human resources. To attract its best and brightest, we will have to win their minds and hearts.

Rudd's 2020 Summit also emphasised India's rising importance. The stream I was part of - Australia's future security and prosperity in a rapidly changing region and world - strongly recommended the "engagement of major regional economies: US, Japan, China, India", probably the first time a high-level public forum grouped India with the countries that dominate Australia's foreign policy focus.

To translate this recommendation into reality, we have to play catch-up, benchmarking our links with India against those we have already forged with the US, Japan and China.

This would prompt us to accelerate our free trade agreement negotiations with India and to institute a bilateral dialogue along the lines of the highly successful Australia America Leadership Dialogue.

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The India we are now faced with is a new, confident and assertive country, one which expects to be recognised as a major power in its own right. New India, above all, wants respect. This can make it very sensitive and quick to react, or even overreact, to perceived slights or inappropriate treatment of its citizens, as was so evident in the Indian media's coverage of the student issue.

It also expects to be treated seriously. Our image in India will benefit if we display more gravitas and resist the traditional compulsory references to superficialities such as cricket, curry and Bollywood.

We should also approach India with openness and honesty. On sensitive issues such as racism, we should avoid our usual reaction of denial. Acknowledging that, like every country, including India, we are not free of racist behaviour, will give us credibility when we rightly take credit for our non-discriminatory immigration policy, our transformation from White to Multicultural Australia, the thousands of students who have received a good education here and the burgeoning number of Indians who happily call Australia home.

Fortunately, Australia has an excellent record on many policy issues of interest to India. This is well understood and appreciated by the Indian government. Sadly, it is largely unrecognised by the Indian media and Indian community in both Australia and India. We have a selling job to do. For example, Australia's ban on uranium exports to India receives a lot of coverage. But the courageous statesmanship shown by the Rudd government in supporting a resolution allowing other Nuclear Suppliers Group members to engage in nuclear trade with India is rarely mentioned. Similarly, the recent tightening of some aspects of the 457 visa regulations should not detract from the fact that we still have the world's most liberal temporary business entry regime.

Another image-building imperative is to make Indians aware that we excel at much more than sports alone. Our amazing record of 11 Nobel laureates, 10 recognised for achievements in science and medicine, should be trumpeted as clear evidence that we are a modern, sophisticated and technologically advanced nation, making Australia an excellent choice for study and collaborative research.

Rudd should also highlight the establishment of the Australia-India Institute, another 2020 Summit recommendation, as evidence of Australia's commitment to develop a deeper understanding of what is one of the world's most complex and diverse countries. He would do well to announce some complementary initiatives, such as fellowships to attract eminent scholars from India to the institute and appropriate funding to enable schools to teach Hindi in normal school hours, fixing a glaring gap in our education system.

Given the imminent Copenhagen Conference, the visit to India is an ideal opportunity for Rudd to promote his climate change agenda. This will provide a positive context for the inevitable discussion on uranium exports. Confirmation by India of its willingness to set emission targets, albeit on a non-binding basis, could encourage a review of ALP policy on this issue, especially as India has an impeccable record of abiding by the spirit of the Non-Proliferation Treaty even though its security imperatives prevent it from being a signatory.

Of course, there are many policy issues on which Australia and India will have legitimate differences. This is only to be expected between countries that have different histories, economies, societies and strategic challenges. Our friendship should be strong enough to allow us to work through our differences and, occasionally, agree to disagree.

Finally, it would be a good sign that India is moving towards treating Australia as significant partner, if our Prime Minister secures a reciprocal visit by Manmohan Singh. It's a sobering thought that the last Indian PM to visit our shores was Rajiv Gandhi in 1986.

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First published in The Australian on October 29, 2009.



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About the Author

Neville Roach AO is chairman emeritus of the Australia India Business Council and has recently been appointed to the Indian Prime Minister's Global Advisory Council of Overseas Indians.

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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