Britain and India in new defense and security partnership

Britain’s PM Boris Johnson announced on Friday from New Delhi that Britain and India has conducted a “new and expanded” defense and security partnership.

 

While Johnson is visiting India, he is currently confronting criticism from his own Conservative MPs, in addition to the uncomfortable prospect of an investigation into whether he lied to parliament over the “Partygate” scandal.

 

In this regard, New Delhi is part of the Quad grouping with the United States, Japan and Australia which is seen as a bulwark against a progressively self-confident China.

 

However, India also has a long Cold War history of cooperation with Moscow, still its principal military provider, and has declined to condemn Russia regarding the Ukraine attack.

 

According to Johnson, this new cooperation was “a decades-long commitment” highlighting the relationship between “one of the oldest democracies, and India, certainly the largest democracy.”