By any measure of strategy, demography, or geography, India is the linchpin of the Indo-Pacific. Yet analysts at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a think tank in Washington, including its chief executive Richard Fontaine, have warned that Washington’s recent approach risks alienating a partner central to balancing China’s power across the region. Their argument is simple: US policy toward India has grown careless at the very moment its importance has become decisive.

India’s weight in the Indo-Pacific is unmatched. It sits astride sea lanes that move most of the world’s oil trade, commands the Indian Ocean’s geographic midpoint, and fields one of the world’s largest militaries. In a region where democratic and authoritarian systems now compete for influence, India’s orientation could decide the outcome.

For two decades, Washington has tried to deepen that partnership through the civil-nuclear accord, the Quad security dialogue, and cooperation on emerging technology. However, that the relationship is being strained by inconsistent US behavior: trade friction, visa limits, and wavering political attention.

The heart of the challenge appears to rest on mismatched expectations. Washington often imagines India as a formal ally in a coalition against Beijing. New Delhi, by contrast, views itself as a civilizational power that cooperates on its own terms. Fontaine and his colleagues essentially argue that US policy must start from this reality, accepting India as it is and working pragmatically around shared priorities such as maritime security, defense co-production, and advanced manufacturing.

It is hard to fault that advice. India is the world’s fastest-growing large economy and a rising defense producer. Its expanding navy and joint exercises with US and Japanese forces are vital to keeping the Indo-Pacific open. Yet Washington’s habit of demanding alignment on issues such as Russia or trade, while offering little flexibility elsewhere, risks pushing India toward strategic hedging. As CNAS notes: “The sight of India’s prime minister visiting China for the first time in seven years was unmistakably a signal to Washington that New Delhi has options [the visit occurred a month ago].”

A more sustainable US strategy would emphasize reciprocity and respect. That means easing technology transfer restrictions, encouraging investment in Indian defense manufacturing, and sustaining high-level dialogue that treats India as a peer rather than a subordinate. CNAS frames the choice bluntly: a stable Indo-Pacific depends on a confident and capable India, and neglecting that reality would leave the United States without a coherent regional anchor.

Lose India, and Washington loses the hinge of its Indo-Pacific strategy. Engage India as an equal, and both sides gain the balance needed to preserve an open, secure, and democratic regional order.

Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840–1914) was an American naval officer and historian whose ideas reshaped global strategy. In his landmark 1890 book The Influence of Sea Power upon History, he argued that nations rise or fall based on their control of the seas. His work inspired major naval expansions in the United States, Britain, Germany, and Japan, and established the principle that maritime power, strong fleets, trade routes, and overseas bases, is essential to national strength and global influence.