ISAS Briefs

The recently concluded visit by the Chinese President Hu Jintao to the United States (US) is significant for South Asia. The main purpose of the visit was to reset the relations between these two global powers – one that was unchallenged for a couple of decades as the sole superpower, and the other that is surging ahead economically and militarily – with the aim of producing a more stable global order. The American tone at the formal meetings in Washington was very different from the one used by President Barack Obama during his visit to Beijing in November 2009. Then he had welcomed China to a shared position with the US in the emerging world order, a kind of G2 arrangement. This time the American President talked about cooperation and competition between the dominant powers. The Hu visit came after Mr Obama’s trip to India in which he promised a larger role in world affairs to the other rising Asian power. Washington seems to be moving away from a G2 world to a multipolar world. The paper examines the reasons for the shift in tone and the implications for South Asia.