What's Gotten India?

Collin May writes on The Asian Tsunami and the Winds of International Change. While respectful of the sheer human tragedy of the natural disaster, he sees signs of things to come in the response.

While American diplomats derided [U.N. official Jan] Egeland’s slip of the tongue [calling response to the tsunami "stingy"], the US engaged in an activity that said far more than any words could regarding the new international order. Without any concern for the UN, the US proceeded to set up a core group of nations to deal with the disaster. Partners in the group were Australia, Japan and India. It is this alliance that will matter most to the US in the future. The four big Pacific democracies, three with strong Anglo-Saxon histories, will most likely develop into the central alliance of the twenty-first century.

From this, he looks ahead and sees this as an early sign of an emerging power alignment in Asia.

For its part, the US isn’t simply waiting for China to dominate the Asian region either. In fact, the big four alliance of Japan, India, Australia and the US is precisely contrived to surround and hem in China, and here special light has to be thrown on the Indian case. During the Cold War, India was a key player in the non-aligned movement. Today, the world’s largest democracy is a key American ally, both politically and economically. Out-sourcing of American jobs to India is no mere financial operation, but part of a political move intended to secure Indian friendship. And from India’s perspective, facing the Chinese on their northern border, the sub-continent is more than happy to reciprocate. Supplemented by Japan (which after the US is the second largest individual donor to international humanitarian organizations) and Australia (a regional power that has long been a reliable American ally), the Indian-American alliance could well be the most significant international alliance to emerge in the twenty-first century.

My initial response to his article is that it is a good one, as predictions go. I definitely believe America's interest, and its natural evolution, require us to draw closer to India. But May omitted a small but key player in both the tsunami relief and the Asian power picture: Singapore. Its heritage is both Anglo and Chinese, and it strives to be a bridge between the cultures, balancing between both.