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P. R. Kumaraswamy, Md. M. Quamar, India’s Saudi Policy,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0794-2_10
CHAPTER 10International Factors
The prevailing regional and global climate has partly influenced India’s
understanding of and approach towards Saudi Arabia. For long, Pakistan
has been a major contributing factor and a stumbling block in India fully
capitalizing on the opportunities presented by the Kingdom. However,
there are other factors and issues which contributed to the prolonged
Indian ‘neglect’ of the Kingdom and the removal or minimizing of these
has partly contributed to the upward swing in the bilateral relations.
During the Cold War era, the politics in the Gulf has been major impedi-
ments to India’s view of Riyadh. Despite the socio-religious and energy-
economic attractions, in foreign policy terms, the Indo-US differences on
Saudi Arabia were so overwhelming that New Delhi did not go beyond a
transactional approach towards the Kingdom.
The end of the Cold War coincided with the emergence of two players
with whom India has to negotiate carefully, if it were to enhance its influ-
ence over Riyadh, namely, People’s Republic of China and Iran. A subtle
Sino-Indian competition has been building up in the Gulf region where
both the countries are actively pursuing various energy security strategies.
The other major player in the Indo-Saudi relations is the Islamic Republic
of Iran, whose regional ascendance has been complicating the Saudi rela-
tions with the outside world, including India. How did the US, China and
Iran influence and even shape Indo-Saudi relations?