India Will Be Joining RCEP Only If It Meets Our Aspirations
By
Colonel Awadhesh Kumar, Special Forces Veteran
Strategic , diplomatic , and economic issues are the reason behind India’s recent decision not to go on board the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement. The real reason, however, is the trade system itself, Even USA has withdrawn from this Pact,
In September, New Delhi invited representatives of RCEP members to India to discuss the mega trade deal, After India announced its exit from RCEP talks on Monday, the country’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal indicated that his country was still open to negotiations. These are signals that New Delhi is ready to join the pact after all issues underlined by it are negotiated to its satisfaction,Though there are lots of uninformed opposition to the deal in India which too have to be taken into account ,as unlike China , India is a democracy,
PM Modi a seasoned negotiator himself naturally declined the agreement in the present form in national interest. However the Congress party issued a statement that “A forceful opposition by Congress and Rahul Gandhi ensures that the BJP government backs down” from signing the RCEP., Not only that, various political parties and social groups have launched protests against RCEP in recent months.
The regional trade agreement has Long-term implications and therefore Modi had no alternative but to turn down the multilateral negotiations to safeguard the Indian interests,
In the past years, the more free trade agreements India signed with neighbouring countries, the bigger India’s trade deficit became. The phenomenon is proof that the other parties are not implementing their side of bargain in time, Though Joining the RCEP will certainly help India further integrate into the regional and global industrial chain, gain more economic profits by taking advantage of its large population as well as markets, and promote its domestic economic reforms. Modi knows this and therefore he is insisting on an iron clad agreement where Indian interests are not short changed,
However China has been taken aback by this turn of events, In fact they may be wondering if USA and have decided to unite and form a separate Trade Pact which may be detrimental to China,Though this is certainly not the case, While comparing the political system between India and China many Westerners believe that democratic India is full of vigor and vitality while stiff and authoritative China will see a bleak future sooner or later. This has already started happening and may gather momentum if China does not change track in time,
India, the world’s largest democracy, will always witness numerous political viewpoints and ideologies, However the final consensus arrived is much better than what may have been achieved by an authoritative China. They have a forced national consensus on most of their developmental models, What is good for the people is decided by the Party and not the people,Chinese policies are rigid and under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, so the country won’t realize democratic reforms, So no wonder , in spite of visible material shine , people are angry and unhappy,
PM Modi knows that it is normal to encounter resistance during the process of reforms and he has already faced it from the Opposition Parties over Demonetization of Currency Notes , GST implementation , carving out of two UT s from the erstwhile State of J& K and Triple Talaq Bill, Only someone with political courage will implement such Reforms, Modi has already displayed the courage to promote tough reforms even if there are huge political risks. Thanks to India’s large young population and the election system, that those in opposition tried and their different calculations but failed to oust PM Modi, He came back with thumping majority to carry out more Reforms.
