India most important nation for US to counter China amid growing tension, says think tank

A leading think tank has recently reported that in order to counter China, the most important country for the US will be India given its highly skilled technical professionals and strong political and cultural ties with the US. However, it also warned that dependence on India as an IT service provider could be a problem with disagreements between the two countries over intellectual property, data governance, tariffs, taxation, local content requirements, or individual privacy. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) think-tank that released a report on Monday said mentioned the best and worst-case scenarios.

The report mentioned the possibility of the US getting sidelined as tensions between India and China has reduced and this will shift the focus entirely to the east. On the other hand, as the relations between India and United States get better as China keeps on imposing increasing challenges on the economic, military, and international level. 

“As America seeks to counter a rising China, no nation is more important than India, with its vast size, an abundance of highly skilled technical professionals, and strong political and cultural ties with the United States. But the parallels between America's dependency on China for manufacturing and its dependency on India for IT services are striking," added the think-tank.

Problems between US and China & impact on Indo-US ties

The co-author of the report, David Moschella argued that growing tensions between the US and China would result in growing relations between India and the US.

The report further mentions that the interactions between the US, China, and India will shape the competition at a global level in the future. The report further compiled that the current scenario will play out majorly on an economic and geopolitical level in the future. It also suggests that India is grown in research, development, product design, testing, and several other sectors. Although US companies are booming in Indian markets, it also faces strong competition from Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, and other firms as well.