Published Online:April 2025
Product Name:The IUP Journal of International Relations
Product Type:Article
Product Code:IJIR030425
DOI:10.71329/IUPJIR/2025.19.2.46-63
Author Name:Musssaib Rasool Mir and Santosh Kumar
Availability:YES
Subject/Domain:Arts and Humanities
Download Format:PDF
Pages:46-63
The juggernautish rise of China presents a powerful, unique, and most long-term serious geopolitical challenge for the US and India. The management of the country’s ties with China and coping with the consequences of China’s dominance are India’s greatest strategic challenges. The former has to be settled with China only, while the latter must involve nations that support India’s goals. The US is the key player that India has long been searching for, because of its heightened confrontation with China. The paper argues that the strategic triangle involving the three key players of the international system holds dim prospects for peaceful management of their relations with each other, except for India and the US trying to build a security framework based on a common Chinese threat, which in itself is a complex and intricate plan beset with insurmountable challenges. This paper’s novelty lies in presenting, through rigorous research, the interaction of the three critical participants of the global system simultaneously, particularly the role of China in shaping the Indo-US relationship. Utilizing a qualitative-descriptive methodology, the paper proposes a Compounded Neo-Realistic Theory to have a proper understanding of this Entangled Triangle.
After 1947, the US saw the nascent Indian state as a significant Asian force that could counterbalance an aggressive, expanding China. India was initially reluctant to play the role of China’s counterbalance, so Nehru negotiated a deal with Beijing. A de facto alliance-like structure between India and the US against China existed