lørdag 26. mars 2022

Ukraine: India 'feeling the heat' over neutrality

On Monday, US President Joe Biden told a meeting of business leaders in Washington that among the so-called Quad group of nations, India was being "somewhat shaky" in its response to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. The US, Japan and Australia - the three other members of this coalition formed to counter China's influence - have been "extremely strong in terms of dealing with Putin's aggression", he said.

India, however, has doggedly pursued a non-aligned foreign policy since independence, where, according to the first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, "we will stay away from the big blocs…to be friendly to all countries…not join any alliance." But will the war in Ukraine now put India's fabled neutrality under strain?