On 28th may 2023, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) has given the proposal to India for NATO plus membership. On response Indian Foreign Minister Mr. Jayshankar answered that “NATO template does not apply to India, that means India officially denied the proposal of NATO. And it reflects India is not interested in the deal.
Whether India’s potential NATO membership is an opportunity or a death trap:
Presently NATO has 31 members in the organization. As per the history, NATO gives its proposal to the country for its own interest. Recently Finland is accepted the proposal of NATO.
NATO countries perform military exercise on regular basis. In 2018 one military exercise had been performed named trident juncture by the all member countries of NATO. The said military exercise was the largest military exercise after cold war. The regular military exercises are the way to show power of NATO to the proposed targeted countries.
In other way, NATO also creates inside instability in the targeted country and to create psychological warfare situation in the country to force country to join membership of NATO. In case of developed country ‘South Korea’ NATO had applied the same strategy of creating internal instability to making South Korea a member of NATO in 1953.
In 1996, NATO proposed membership to Baltic countries like Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. However, at the same time, NATO also created hypothetical fears of Russian aggression as a justification for their potential membership.
In case of Japan, Ukraine and Finland NATO had increased closeness with countries and offer them membership. It was world known fact that as per verbal treaty, Russia demanded not to become member of NATO to the border countries of Russia. But NATO offers membership to Ukraine which is unjustifiable as per treaty. Russia responded on same and turns the situation into war zone. In war NATO countries only supplied military to the Ukraine and not deployed army by any NATO country. It can be surprising to see that even though the Memorandum of Understanding states that a war involving one NATO country is considered a war for all NATO members, the actual implementation of such promises may not always reflect the reality.
During a period when Finland, a country historically seen as an ally of Russia, was not facing any direct threat from Russia, NATO offered membership to Finland. However, Russia reacted to this proposal and issued a warning to Finland. In response, NATO expressed concerns over Russia’s warning and urged Finland to accept NATO membership as a means of protecting the nation.
This kind of strategies had already played by NATO to making countries there member.
NATO may be interested in making India a member for several reasons:
- Now a days India increasing its influence over the world politics. In addition to its significance in world politics, India’s large population and demographic aspects are also important factors. With the world’s largest population, India holds significant economic and strategic potential. Its demographic profile, including a young and growing population, offers opportunities for economic development and a potential workforce. These factors make India an attractive prospect for NATO in terms of influence and cooperation. India became the world’s 5th largest economy.
- Now NATO is not just targeting Russia but also China. NATO countries find China as a major threat. China can surpass NATO countries soon. Therefore, NATO countries know that they should control china by anyhow.
- Russia has diplomatic relation with china and China is close ally of Russia. Russia is making china stronger to make there ally strong. NATO can fail the strategy of Russia by making India member of NATO.
Benefits for India to join NATO:
- Enemy of India can think twice before forcing war on India if India becomes the member of NATO.
- India can use membership when creates war like situation. India has conflict with China and Pakistan. We all know about the economic situation of Pakistan. Therefore; threat of war from Pakistan is less. When we talk about China, India has sufficient power of military to face Chinse military. India has 3rd largest army in the world which is sufficient to fight for nation. India has no other reason to join NATO.
- If in case India joins NATO then India can get Pak occupied Kashmir back. As we know China has done huge investment in the POK area through Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project. India will face China’s opposition for POK getting back in India. In this case NATO’ membership can help India
It is all possible benefits of making India member of NATO.
Disadvantages of joining NATO for India:
- The India-Russia friendship could potentially be affected if India were to accept NATO membership, primarily because NATO is considered to be anti-Russia. This move might lead to a shift in Russia’s international alliances, with a potential strengthening of its relationship with China.
- Russia is currently the largest supplier of arms to India, providing significant support to India’s defense needs. If the India-Russia friendship were to be affected by India’s acceptance of NATO membership, it could potentially lead to a loss of this valuable arms supplier for India. Consequently, India would need to seek out a new reliable supplier to fulfill its defense requirements.
- According to Article 15 of the memorandum of understanding, if India becomes a member of NATO, it would be required to participate in a war if any NATO country is involved in a conflict. This obligation may or may not align with India’s national interests.
- If India joins NATO, there is a chance that a NATO military base could be set up in India. However, this may negatively impact India’s sovereignty, as it would involve allowing foreign military presence on Indian soil.
- It is to be said that NATO is not the stable organization. NATO member is having diplomatic differences between each other. For example Greece and Turkey having conflict for the Islands. NATO sometimes cannot take decision unanimously due to differences in opinion between members.
NATO is not a group of untrustworthy Western countries.
Conclusion:
We can say that to become member of NATO is not beneficial and against the interest of India. Therefore, it is good to not accepting proposal of NATO. The decision taken is right. India need to take proper steps to manage good geopolitical relations with western world as well as eastern allies.
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