In the coming years, India and China again will become increasingly important players in the Middle East. The United States will have to accept that its "unipolar moment" in the Middle East is transitory. Today the United States has satisfactory relations with China, and there is much discussion of a new U.S.-Indian strategic relationship. Does this mean, however, that India will eventually cooperate on Gulf security? Or that China will be a continuing partner in the effort to bring stability to the world's most important source for oil and natural gas? Both countries have their own agenda for the region that may, over time, diverge from U.S. objectives.
India's Middle East Presence
Indians are no strangers to the region. For hundreds of years Indians enjoyed close economic and cultural ties with the peoples of the Gulf. During the period of the Raj, officials in Bombay managed British interests in the Gulf. Indian soldiers and laborers provided the bulk of the workforce that sustained Britain's Gulf presence in peace and war. Indian volunteers played a crucial role as members of Britain's Indian Army that fought in the Middle East during World War I and World War II.
Today India's most visible presence in the Gulf is demographic. Approximately 3.5 million Indians work in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and send home about $4 billion annually in remittances. Without its South Asian workforce, the Arab Gulf countries would not be able to exploit their riches and would not be able to build the new, flamboyant city-states that are emerging--Bahrain, Doha and Dubai being prime examples. Eighty percent of the population of the United Arab Emirates consists of expatriates, of which the majority comes from South Asia, including 1.2 million Indians.
