Nothing wrong with India siding with US if it can justify it, says former foreign minister Vijay Gokhale

Former Foreign Secretary of India Vijay Gokhale with TS Tirumurti, former Permanent Representative of India to the UN, at an event in Chennai on Saturday. | Photo credit: SRINATH M

India’s former foreign minister and author of China’s Wars: The Policy and Diplomacy Behind Its Military Coercion Vijay Gokhale said on Saturday that “there was nothing wrong with India siding with the United States, as long as India can justify it and it is beneficial”. He was speaking at Tagore Auditorium, Tamil Nadu Government Music College in Chennai at an event organized by Chennai International Centre.

In an interview with TS Tirumurti, India’s former permanent representative to the UN, Mr Gokhale said: “I think at the end of the day, if you have to lean, it has to be towards the United States, because our value systems are certainly more compatible than China’s. And secondly, because if there is one of the two that will actually share some technology and information with you, I don’t think we’re going to have it from Washington and Beij.” that there has to be a delicate policy with China, it will be the second most powerful country in the world, maybe the most powerful country in the world, and in any case it will take us a long time to catch up with them, and they are neighbors,” he said.

Mr Gokhale said the Galwan conflict had “totally demolished the framework of India-China relations”, leading to the collapse of all the three pillars on which it stood.

“The first pillar was that India would move border negotiations and other bilateral relations in parallel on two parallel tracks that would not affect each other. That was blown to pieces simply because Galwan affected bilateral relations in all other areas. The second pillar was China’s assurance that we will not use military coercion until the border is resolved. And to do that in the last 10 years, we have years they consistently did enough.” growing as the two major powers in the Indo-Pacific is in itself questionable because I don’t think China sees us as equals and therefore doesn’t want us to grow,” he said.

When Mr. Tirumurti asked a question about the Iran war and how it played out, Mr. Gokhale said, “China is hurting economically as we are economically. You can visibly see signs of a slowdown in the economy, not just in terms of spending in stores or restaurants, but also in terms of property that has stabilized. And with the declining demographics getting worse and worse, I think… The assumption by many Western scholars that because China in this situation nothing did not say anything, the United States is still a unipolar power, is probably a very poor strategic judgment to make.

He added that China does not exercise hegemony like the United States. “China is a much more refined sovereign dominion … subservient relationship with states. What is the Belt and Road Initiative. I give you $5 billion, $15 billion, $10 billion, $8 billion. You do what I say and acknowledge my interest, that’s Chinese hegemony,” he said.

Published – 14 Jun 2026 01:12 IST