Ukraine-Russia conflict has brought India's foreign policy and strategic thinking to the limelight. India suddenly faced a difficult situation with a war involving its long time friend Russia and a country supported by the west. Russia has been India's most important defense supplier and a diplomatic friend for more than 50 years, a relationship dating from Soviet times. India also has a growing economic, military and diplomatic relationship with the West, especially the decades after the end of cold war. India has, so far, not criticized Russia for starting the war and abstained from all UN resolutions introduced by the Western bloc blaming Russia. Western countries have been upset over India's stand and they have been expressing it publicly in various ways ranging from soft threats, persuasions and moral patronizing. Admirably, India has not bowed to this pressure, refusing to take a side in essentially a strategic war between Russia and the West. Also, Russian government praised India for its impartial position, Russia praises India.
India's relation with the West, especially the US, has been steadily increasing in economic and defence spheres in the decades following the end of the cold war. From 1999 to 2018, trade in goods and services between US and India grew from $16 billion to $142 billion, Guide to U.S.-India Trade. For the year 2021, Indo-US trade in goods (excluding services) crossed $100 billion for the first time and India became the top oil exporter from US, Forbes - Plus $100 Billion Trade Partner. Total trade with EU in goods was $88 billion in 2021, slightly lower increase of 12.5 % over the last decade, EU trade relations with India. Many US, EU corporations have offices in India and it has been the main destination for business outsourcing.
The economic relationship between India and the West will continue to grow in the future as India is expected to be the third largest economy in 10-15 years time. A developing country of 1.3 billion people offers a huge market for Western products and services. India is trying to build a manufacturing base and if it succeeds, may be able to provide a supply chain alternative to China for Western firms. The signing of India-Australia interim trade agreement in the middle of Western unease over Indian policy on Russia-Ukraine conflict is a good case in point.
Along with the growth of economic ties, India has been developing it's military ties with the West with an aim of diversifying defense imports. Indian defence equipment purchase from the West has seen a steady upswing in the last decade or so. India signed an agreement with French aircraft manufacturer Dassault to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets on 23 September 2016, BBC - Rafale fighter jet deal. It was the biggest deal for Rafale jets at that time later bettered by UAE. Most of these jets have been already delivered to India. It was the first purchase of a Western jet for the Indian Air force as, previously they were solely depending on Soviet/Russian jets for their needs. Some of the major arms bought from US includes Boeing P-8I long-range maritime patrol aircrafts for the Indian Navy, Boeing C-17 Globemaster III heavy-lift military aircraft, Boeing Apache Longbow attack helicopters, Chinook heavy-lift helicopters. India and the United States signed the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) on October 27, 2020 which, along with the two agreements signed earlier — the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) and the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) — completes the set of foundational agreements for sharing military intelligence between the two countries, Indian Express - BECA explained. BECA will help India get real-time access to American geospatial intelligence providing domain awareness that will improve the accuracy of Indian missiles and armed drones in any future conflicts.
Indians form a large diaspora in the West, mainly in Anglosphere countries. There are an estimated 4.2 millions ethnic Indians in US and around 1.4 millions in UK. Indians along with Chinese makes up a large proportion of foreign students in the universities of Anglosphere countries. Indian engineers play a prominent role in Silicon Valley and some of them have gone on to become the CEOs of many big companies like Microsoft, Google, IBM, Twitter.
India is the largest democracy in the world and it has been a democracy since its independence from UK in 1947. Democracy is basically an Anglo-American system and it was introduced in India during British rule. British held elections in India and formed elected representative bodies for local governance. Very few countries in the non-Western world has 75 years long history of democratic rule. In a world with non-democratic and partially democratic countries, West has a democratic partner of 1.3 billion people in India.
But, all the positives in Indo-West relation, can not obscure a plain truth. That is, India is not a Western country. Indians are not Westerners by race, culture, religion and history. Westerners and Indians will never think the same. India see itself as a civilizational country and aspires to become a major economic and cultural power during this century. Western strategic interests and Indian strategic interests are different even though there is a lot of intersection. India has no interest in being a junior partner of the West or sacrificing its core national interests for the sake of Western strategic interests.
India has managed to follow an independent foreign policy after its independence, though it had close relation with Soviet Union during the latter period of the cold war, actually India's current ties with Russia is a continuation of it. India should choose not be an Asian ally of the West, the likes of Japan, South Korea and Israel. All the three countries became Western allies due to historic circumstances and depends on the US for their security in a precarious neighborhood.
Japan turned to an ally of the US post WWII, from being the country that Japan attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbour in 1941 that started the Pacific war, both countries fought hard naval battles in the Pacific ocean and the war ended with Japanese surrender following the dropping of nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The post war Japanese constitution was drafted with US help and it prevents active role for Japanese military. US maintains airbases in Japan, The prominent one being the Kadena airbase in the southern island of Okinawa and around 50,000 US troops are stationed in Japan. US-Japan security treaty guarantees US security protection for Japan. Japan relied on this alliance against perceived threat from communist Soviet Union. US-South Korean security relationship is a legacy of Korean war, fought in the 1950's. Nearly 30,000 US troops are based in South Korea, protecting the country from the threat from North Korea. Israel faced active hostilities from its Arab neighbors from the time the country was formed in 1948. Israel receives huge economic assistance and advanced weapon systems from the US, the US policy has been to ensure that Israel maintain a military advantage over its neighbors.
The Ukraine conflict has clearly shown that West cares mostly about their own interests and wont hesitate to bully other countries to follow Western interest as well. It is really admirable to see the Indian government taking a solid stand on the conflict, withstanding immense pressure exerted by US and Europe. India do not want to become part of any power blocks and believes in a multi-polar world. India seeks close partnership with the West but wont sacrifice it's relation with other countries for the sake of it. It was also a learning lesson for the West that India's foreign policy will be guided by its own national interest and strategic thinking, not some one else's.