The incoming U.S. administration of President-elect Joe Biden will most likely focus on pressing domestic issues, said veteran diplomat and former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran.
Addressing an online interaction, Mr. Saran said the next U.S. president will have to deal with racial division in American society and the next administration will have to stress on bringing societal reconciliation to some extent.
"It is difficult to see [in] which direction President Biden will take the United States. It is clear that his intent is liberal. Whether in human rights or promotion of democracy — there is no doubt that this is a President-elect who wants to restore the liberal tradition in the U.S. But it will depend on to what extent he can reconcile the split society of the United States,” said Mr. Saran, addressing a webinar organised by the Policy Perspectives Foundation.
In his address, former Indian ambassador to the United States Ronen Sen pointed out the behaviour of the next administration regarding the Tibetan issue and the Dalai Lama will be crucial.
“During the administration of President George W. Bush, American focus on Tibet was clear and President Bush had bestowed the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal to the Dalai Lama,” said Mr. Sen.
However, Mr. Saran pointed out that there are several important differences between the previous decades and the situation emerging after the COVID-19 pandemic, which may make it tough for the U.S. to play a more active role in the Tibetan issue. He pointed out that the “centre of gravity” of the world is shifting towards the East and Southeast Asian region because of the China factor in the post-COVID19 scenario.
“In the post-COVID19 period, the shift of the centre of gravity of the global order will be accentuated. Crucible of the global economy has shifted to east-southeast Asian region. The change that began with the financial crisis of 2008 will further get accentuated because of the pandemic,” said Mr. Saran, who was the lead negotiator for the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal during the George W. Bush administration.
The factor that is helping China emerge as the key player in the post-COVID world order into which Biden administration will walk in, is the obvious difference between the way China has dealt with the pandemic and the way many western societies failed in this crisis.
“Many important countries were caught unprepared to deal with the pandemic. This will, therefore, put greater stress on reliability and efficiency,” said Mr. Saran, who predicted that the pandemic may not be the last as it is linked to climate change and erosion of natural habitat of wild animals which is making human beings come in closer contact with new forms of virus.
In the given situation, the Biden administration is likely to focus on domestic priorities but there are possibilities that China could become part of the domestic American agenda as well because of Chinese dominance of the global economic activities that will obviously influence U.S. domestic plans as well. Mr Saran, however, did not indicate that the U.S. administration will immediately prioritise ties with India.
