Former foreign secretary Shyam Saran, who was the original Indian interlocutor of the US-India civilian nuclear deal negotiations with erstwhile US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, is unapologetic about his recent remarks at the India Habitat Centre lecture series in New Delhi [Images] which left many foreign policy experts both in India and the US puzzled. For someone who helped shape that policy, he seemingly was having second thoughts about India's pro-US tilt.

Asked about these remarks by rediff.com (India Abroad) and the 'flutter' it had caused among the pro-US people both in Delhi and Washington, during an interaction that followed his headlining a major conference on the US-India nuclear deal at The Brookings Institution here, Saran said, "I'm delighted that it created a flutter, (but) I don't think it was my intention to create a flutter anywhere."

But he said that "although this does not relate to the subject that we are discussing today, let me say that this was from the perspective of India. It is not a matter of being pro-US or anti-US. What I was pointing out was that thanks to the economic and financial crisis, the international, you know, landscape is going to change."

Saran, currently a special envoy to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images], in his address at the Habitat Centre had said, "India needs to be geared up for a more diffused and decentralized complex international landscape, with the US enjoying significantly diminished predominance" and that New Delhi needs desperately to "hedge its foreign policy in view of the Sino-US strategy convergence," as the US is embarking on an unprecedented diplomatic offensive to co-opt Beijing [Images] in its economic recovery.

"China is being invited to participate in the fashioning of new global governance structures and have a major voice in the management, if not resolution, of major regional conflicts," he said.

Saran reiterated, "This is nothing to do with being pro-US or anti-US," but argued that "there is going to be a change in the international landscape, and it is going to be very uncertain how this is going to evolve."

"And, therefore, countries like India need to be mindful of the fact that we are going into a phase where many of the assumptions -- many of the certainties -- that we have become used to are no longer," going to hold. "So, from the point of view of strategic thinking, it is extremely important that India keeps that in mind and starts to fashion policies which will be more appropriate to that kind of evolving world."

Saran, however, pointed out that in that speech, he had mentioned "that the United States of America will continue to be the predominant party for the foreseeable future -- that is not in doubt. But, you know, there is going to be a bit of a shake-up in terms of the inter-relationship amongst the major international powers, and my perspective is -- and I may be wrong -- that we will find a much more diffused, a much more looser kind of international system, which will appear."

"And, in that context, there are certain opportunities for India, there are certain downsides for India, which we should factor in. That's all," he added.

Asked what are the pressure points, and where the possible pitfalls are that could perhaps change the nature of the otherwise positive and strong US-India relationship, which is very much on track, Saran said, "One of the good things is that over the last several years, we have built up an extraordinarily broad range relationship and it's not only a government-to-government relationship, but there is a strong relationship that has developed between the business communities, there is a very strong, people to people relationship -- of course, that has always been there -- but it has really acquired a very strong dimension."

"So, I do not see a major downside in terms of how the India-US relationship is taken forward," he said.

Saran asserted that "very much will depend upon whether or not the political, especially in the leadership of the two countries, really focuses attention to leveraging many of those opportunities which have opened up. If there are, in terms of the economic and financial crisis, can one see an India-US nuclear relationship or a defense relationship or investment relationship as one of the answers to the economic and financial crisis, or is this going to be a casualty of that crisis."

He said he believed that "in many of these things there is an element of choice. That is why I think it is extremely important that the level of engagement that we have had with the United States for the last several years, that level of engagement continues, and in fact, intensifies as we face new challenges."

"So, I am not looking at pressure points in that sense that, there are negatives which may derail this relationship. I don't think that the relationship can be derailed now precisely because this is a very broad-ranging and very strong relationship," Saran said. "But whether or not the promise of something more will, in fact, crystallize in the days to come, that requires an effort�that requires a deliberate effort on the part of India, that requires a deliberate effort on the part of the United States."