- Why a poor country throws its money around
By: Amjed Jaaved
In today’s market economy, no country can live in economic isolation. The USA (or its proxy India) has a flexible format to dub or delete a country as part of an axis of evil, a sponsor of terrorism or a pariah (Tamil paraiyar, outcaste), or a rogue (Iran, Sudan, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela).The Ottoman Empire was persecuted as an outcast by European states since the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 until the 19th century on a ‘religious basis’.
Geldenhuys points out criteria for declaring a state pariah– having ‘artificial borders’ (Iraq), a siege mentality, anti-West sentiments and a desire to subvert the international status quo (Pakistan?), or not being a considerable `world power’. China being a `world power’ is not pariah despite complaints about its human rights record in Xinjiang.
Through aid or trade, India is now influencing not only internal but also external policies of countries: the Rafale deal with France, the recent helicopter and air defence deal with the USA, trade relations with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
In Sri Lanka, India brokered to defeat Mahinda Rajapakse in his 2015re-election bid as President. Rajapakse had given China strategic entry into Sri Lanka, by leasing out Hambantota port to China and allowing it to build Colombo port and dock its submarines in Sri Lanka. Now Sri Lanka has handed over control of Hambantota to India. India gave $45.27 million aid to develop KKS harbour in Sri Lanka. Rajapakse is back in office, being appointed PM by his brother Gotabaya after he was elected President in 2019.
India extended Nepalese Rs 2.1 billion aid to Nepal as the first tranche of housing support to 42,086 India-supported beneficiaries in Nuwakot and Gorkha districts. It pledged Nepal $1 billion aid and soft loan for Nepal’s post-earthquake reconstruction.
It also pledged to contribute Rs 4.5 billion to Bhutan’s 12th five-year plan (2018 to 2023). It completed the Mangdhechu Hydroelectric project and Ground Earth Station for South Asia Satellite and the launch of the RuPay card in Bhutan. Besides, it committed assistance of Rs 45 billion for implementation of development projects and Rs 4 billion for a transitional Trade Support Facility during the Plan. Under it, 51 large and intermediate projects and 359 Small Development Projects and High-Impact Community Development Projects are being carried out. India’s commitment to the 12th Plan constitutes about 14.5 percent of the Plan outlay, which is around 38.75 percent of the capital outlay and 71 percent of the total external assistance.
While all peripheral countries are growing by leaps and bounds, Pakistan is engrossed in bail-out-centred siege mentality. To avoid being isolated, Pakistan should promote national harmony to emerge as a `world power’ to be reckoned with as a beacon of democracy
To Bangladesh, India extended three $8 billion loans. A total of 1.16 GW of power is now being supplied by India to Bangladesh. The increase, in the reckoning of the Prime Minister, signifies a “quantum jump from megawatts to gigawatts and is symbolic of a golden era” in bilateral ties. Markedly, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has pledged to raise the power supply to Bangladesh to 1000 MW. Though electricity will not be a substitute for Teesta water, the plan to boost power supply is on the anvil.
Launching the ‘Act Far East’ policy, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in September that India will give a line of credit worth $1 billion to Russia for the development of the Far East.
India has provided lines of credit worth $96.54 million to Niger for projects in transport, electrification, solar energy and potable drinking water. It granted $15 million to Niger for organising the African Union Summit
Opposed to China’s Belt-Road Initiative, India and Japan, meanwhile, have launched their own joint initiative in the shape of the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC) for undertaking development and cooperation projects in the African continent.
Relations with Malaysia and others: Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s views on Kashmir and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) irked India. He had said in September that India had “invaded and occupied” Kashmir. He was joined by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said that India had virtually imposed “a blockade” on Kashmiris. About the CAA, he commented he was “sorry to see that India, which claims to be a secular state, is now taking action to deprive some Muslims of their citizenship”. India lodged a formal protest stating that it went against the accepted diplomatic practice of “non-interference in each other’s internal affairs”.
Already, India was angry as Malaysia refused to hand over Indian Islamic televangelist Zakir Naik. He was given asylum in Malaysia in 2018 after Indian allegations of money laundering and “hate speech”. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s views on Kashmir and the Citizenship Amendment Act irked the Indian government, which retaliated by unofficially stopping the import of palm oil from the country.
Nepal, too, will be affected by the de facto Indian ban on Malaysian palm oil. Malaysian palm oil is refined in large quantities in Nepal and exported to India.
Malaysia may retaliate if India is unrelenting in its decision to stop the import of palm oil. Mahathir Mohamad’s media adviser has called for tighter regulations of Indians working in the country and a reciprocal ban on the import of Indian products. More than 100,000 Indians are employed in Malaysia, constituting more than 6 percent of the foreign workforce. Now that Mahathir has been replaced by the opposition, it remains to be seen what policy Malaysia follows.
The Indian government has also sought to penalise Turkey by not allowing it to bid for construction contracts. Mahathir Mohamad, along with Erdogan and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had in fact agreed to organise a “global Islamic forum” to highlight the major issues facing the Islamic community worldwide, including in Palestine and Kashmir. Under pressure from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Imran Khan cancelled his visit to the Islamic Forum meeting in Kuala Lumpur in December at the eleventh hour even though Kashmir was sought to be highlighted. Erdogan said that the Saudis had threatened to withdraw their financial backing to Pakistan and send back the large numbers of Pakistanis working in the Kingdom.
Indonesia, too, succumbed to pressure from the Arab monarchies and excused itself from the three-day moot at the last minute.
While all peripheral countries are growing by leaps and bounds, Pakistan is engrossed in bail-out-centred siege mentality. To avoid being isolated, Pakistan should promote national harmony to emerge as a `world power’ to be reckoned with as a beacon of democracy.
