To be sure, Copenhagen acknowledged in its Defence and Security policy document unveiled this week that despite close ties with the West, New Delhi will pursue its approach of strategic independence.
India commands special attention in the region due to its size and rapidly growing economic, political, climatic, technological and military importance, the policy document noted.
The policy paper (Danish Security and Defence Toward 2035) acknowledged that in terms of foreign and security policy, India will maintain its own approach (i.e., strategic independence) and will not join treaty-based partnerships. In this context, it referred to India’s position on the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
India’s broader security policy focus is on the Indo-Pacific, where it wants to minimise Chinese influence and presence, claimed the Danish government document.
“Approaching 2035, India will become one the world’s most influential countries, driven partly by its size and technological development power, partly by its own global ambitions. It will greatly impact the new world order. India will balance its need to orientate itself toward the West in order to meet the challenge from China against its desire for strategic independence and a role as a mouthpiece for the many countries that do not want to choose sides between China and the US,” the document noted.
“The Indian economy is expected to match the EU in 2040. India will increasingly appear as an independent player geopolitically and economically, with a focus on its own defined interests…India’s overriding security policy focus is China, with whom it shares an almost 3,400 km long land border,” said the document. “The demarcation remains disputed, resulting in ongoing conflicts, which are expected to continue. There has been a significant military build-up on both sides, and further confrontations on the border must be considered possible.”
On the technological front, including in digitalisation, India will aim to present itself as a serious challenger to China, the document predicted. “India’s current rapid economic and technological development will drive the development of new strategic and innovative technologies, and it will thus become a decisive piece in the puzzle of global cooperation in the future between democracies and market economies.”
Indo-Danish ties have been transformed in the past few years and the two sides have launched the Green Strategic Partnership. The Danish PM was the first leader India hosted after the outbreak of Covid. This was followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Copenhagen trip this year.
