Look West or Look East? India at the Crossroads of Cyberspace

This chapter explores how India has managed its external environment with a view to securing its own digital ecosystems. It highlights India’s engagement with the United States and China, the biggest players in its digital ecosystem. Both relationships reflect certain geopolitical realities, but also offer contrasting narratives. India and the United States have sought in recent years to align their views on the governance of common digital spaces, whereas New Delhi's outreach to China has been more instrumental, and largely confined to interactions with specific Chinese companies that invest in the country. Mindful, however, of Beijing's potential to expand its influence in Asian economies by supplying their digital infrastructure and applications, India has acknowledged the need to engage China at a strategic level on ‘cyber’ issues. Its high-level interactions with the United States and China could lead India to a crossroads from where it has to choose one model of standards, rules, and norms for cybersecurity and Internet governance over the other.