The Left parties have made a big issue of India’s foreign policy autonomy in the debate on the nuclear agreement with the US. They will soon have to come to terms with the reality that while the US is seeking a revision of the global nuclear order to accommodate India, Beijing is coming in the way.

The Left will also have to recognise that after China scuttled India’s campaign for a permanent seat in the United Nations

Security Council, marginalised India from the Asian institution building, and refused to back India’s recent bid for Asian Games, New Delhi is increasingly sceptical of the prospects for political cooperation with Beijing. If the CPM is serious about promoting Sino-Indian relations, it should launch a political effort to get Beijing’s support for the Indo-US nuclear deal.

The writer is a professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore