Cameron calls for closer ties with India

Tuesday, 5 September 2006 12:00 AM

David Cameron has today called for a new "special relationship" with India, warning that British foreign policy is too "obsessed" with Europe and the US.

The Conservative leader said western countries were no longer driving the global agenda and must "wake up to a new reality" that India and China were now key players.

Mr Cameron is on a visit to India with shadow chancellor George Osborne, where he has been meeting with business leaders and will tomorrow attend a lunch hosted by prime minister Manmohan Singh.

At the same time, shadow foreign secretary William Hague and shadow defence secretary Liam Fox are visiting China, where they will call on Beijing to use its influence to help end the stand-off with Iran over its nuclear activities.

The visits mark Mr Cameron's determination to shift Conservative foreign policy to focus on developing new relationships with the east, rather than simply relying on the UK's traditional European and American allies.

Writing in The Guardian, he stressed: "This is India's time. For most of the past half century we in the west have assumed that we set the pace and we set the global agenda. Well, now we must wake up to a new reality.

"We have to share global leadership with India, and with China. And we must recognise that India has established beyond argument, through its economic and political success, its right to a seat at the top table."

The considerable Indian population in Britain, the trade and cultural links established as part of the Commonwealth and the fact that India is now the third largest investor in the UK all meant that ties between the two countries were deep.

But Mr Cameron said more was needed, writing: "As the world's centre of gravity moves from Europe and the Atlantic to the south and the east, I believe it is time for Britain and India to forge a new special relationship, to meet our shared challenges in this new era of international affairs."

He added: "I attach the highest priority to Britain's relationship with India. For too long, politics in this country has been obsessed with Europe and America.

"Of course these relationships are, and will continue to be, vital. But serious and responsible leadership in the 21st century means engaging with far greater energy in the parts of the world where Britain's strategic interests will increasingly lie."

A key area on which India and the UK could cooperate was terrorism, Mr Cameron said, and this measure will be reinforced by Mr Hague during his visit, when he will call on the Chinese government to take more of an active role in the global war on terror.

"I will be encouraging the Chinese to take an active role in supporting the Western allies in the struggle against terrorism. It is an issue that will be of growing concern for China as it emerges as a dominant force in international politics," he will say.

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