Laxmikanth Test: Foreign Policy - UPSC MCQ

“When we say that India follows a policy of non-alignment, it means
(i) that India has no military alliances with countries of either bloc or indeed with any nation;
(ii) India has an independent approach to foreign policy; and
(iii) India attempts to maintain friendly relations with all countries”

The Asian Relations Conference was an international conference that took place in New Delhi from 23 March to 2 April, 1947.

India remained a member of the Commonwealth because of pragmatic reasons. It thought that the membership in the Commonwealth would be beneficial to her in the economic, political, cultural and other spheres. It has been playing an important role at the CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meet). India hosted the 24th Commonwealth Summit at New Delhi in 1983.

India adopted its nuclear doctrine in 2003. The salient features of this doctrine are as follows:
1. Building and maintaining a credible minimum deterrent.
2. A posture of “No First Use” - nuclear weapons will only be used in retaliation against a nuclear attack on Indian territory or on Indian forces anywhere.
3. Nuclear retaliation to a first strike will be massive and designed to inflict unacceptable damage.
4. Nuclear retaliatory attacks can only be authorised by the civilian political leadership through the Nuclear Command Authority.
5. Non-use of nuclear weapons against nonnuclear weapon states.

SCO is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation for strengthening mutual trust and neighbourliness among the member states. The Anti-Terrorist structure of SCO is located in Tashkent.

The five principles were:
(i) mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty;
(ii) non-aggression;
(iii) non-interference in each other’s internal affairs;
(iv) equality and mutual benefit; and
(v) peaceful co-existence

This extra-constitutional declaration does not affect India’s sovereignty in any manner as the Commonwealth is a voluntary association of independent nations. It also does not affect India’s republican character as India neither pays final allegiance to the British Crown nor the latter has any functions to discharge in relation to India.

Panchsheel implies the five principles of conduct in international relations. It was embodied in the Preamble of the Indo-China Treaty on Tibet, signed in 1954 by Jawaharlal Nehru and ChouEn-Lai, the Chinese Premier.

In 2014, the Modi Government upgraded India’s “Look East Policy” and re-named it as the “Act East Policy”. The “Look East Policy” was first initiated in 1992 by the then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao. While addressing the India-ASEAN Summit (2014), the Prime Minister Narendra Modi said : “A new era of economic development, industrialization and trade has begun in India. Externally, India’s ‘Look East Policy’ has become ‘Act East Policy’”. Similarly, the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, during her visit to Vietnam in 2014, told Indian envoys to ‘Act East’ and not just ‘Look East’.

The doctrine advocates that India, being the biggest country in South Asia, should extend unilateral concessions to the smaller neighbours. In other words, the doctrine is formulated on India’s accommodating approach towards its smaller neighbours on the basis of the principle of non-reciprocity. It recognises the supreme importance of friendly and cordial relations with India’s neighbours