For centuries large areas of Asia were colonial territory. The various countries of the continent were effectively separated from each other by their masters, and no substantial relations of any kind existed between them. Individuals, either missionaries, traders, or refugees, maintained some contacts. Later, laborers were introduced from one country into another by the colonial powers, so that touch was established between some groups. But all these contacts laid the groundwork for later friction rather than cooperation; in any case, they were a type of contact irrelevant to the formation of regular and close international ties. The colonies were oriented...

The basic causes of all Asian nationalism, Indian or otherwise, are indigenous to each country. But they resemble each other greatly, and the development of local nationalisms is very similar. It is therefore not surprising that the nationalist movements found each other and that they united for joint action. Asian nationalists began to disregard the individual nature of each colonial power’s rule. In imperialism as such they found a common denominator which permitted them to lump the Western powers together as the Western imperialist enemy. The opposition to this enemy released a uniting force among Asians; the substance of Asian...

The demand to give Asian solidarity concrete expression in some organized form arises naturally enough; the difficulty of fulfilling it, on the other hand, demonstrates the severe limitations of the solidarity. Asian federation began to be talked about soon after the existence of Asian solidarity was discovered. The idea seems to have a considerable fascination for a section of Asian intellectuals, including some statesmen, who discuss it sometimes as an exercise in speculation, sometimes as a feasible policy. Usually the discussion is as general and vague as the underlying feeling of solidarity itself. The motives of the individuals advocating one...

The impossibility of creating an Asian union has destroyed the hopes of some few Indians of creating an Indian Century in Asia. More important, it has made difficult the pursuit of an Indian foreign policy under the motto “Friendship with all,” which already has had to be modified to “Friendly with all, but friendlier with some.” The convenience no longer exists of covering up all clashes of interests or differences of opinion by an appeal to Asian solidarity, or of postponing their consideration until after the primary goal, independence, has been reached. The individuality of Asian nations now outweighs their...

The United Nations and other international agencies afford the best opportunity for the common interests of India and other Asian nations to find practical expression. The agencies are used for much consultation and coordination of policy. A system of multilateral relations has developed there which is unspectacular but which has been politically much more important than the widely advertised Asian conferences. Much, if not most, of the coordinated policy emanating from Asia had its beginnings in New York and Geneva. If examined, its nature is a good indicator of the type of issues in which Asian solidarity is still effective...

India’s attitudes toward Communist nations in Asia—China and the Soviet Union*—and Communist movements in general are determined largely but not exclusively by Indian concepts of communism. These are not unanimously held by all Indians, and generalizations on this point are bound to be incorrect. The most that may be said is that there is an inclination to approach the Communist problem with a considerable amount of optimism, springing from the belief that the evil results of communism in Europe can be avoided in Asia, or, at any rate, in India. The magic of the “Asian spirit” either would...

Shortly after India obtained independence, its general approach to the problem of international relations between Western, non-Russian powers and Asian states was one of extreme suspicion. There was an a priori assumption that practically all Western diplomacy was motivated by imperialism; hence the widespread conviction that Western powers had no business being in Asia at all. They were expected to justify their presence on some ground acceptable to India. In any case, all Western relations with Asia were closely scrutinized, primarily from the angle of a very broadly defined imperialism. If there was a choice between interpretations of any Western...

The Indian government is guided in the conduct of international relations by its interpretation of the national interest. Nehru is trying to prevent foreign policy from being influenced by the ideologies and systems struggling for supremacy in the world today. With Canning, he may be thought to say “that the position of this country in the present state of the world is one of neutrality, not only between contending nations, but between contending principles,” and to warn his fellow citizens, as Canning did in 1826, to avoid international wars of opinion. Such a policy, however, is easier to formulate than...