Modi meeting Biden upon arrival at White House
on June 21, 2023

As part of the visit of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to the U.S., the Biden administration today announced that India has agreed to sign Artemis Accords, becoming the 27th nation to join the American space alliance.

It appears India made this decision after the Biden administration agreed to foster a whole range of cooperative technology exchanges.

Cooperation in advanced computing, artificial intelligence, and quantum information science is also being fostered through the establishment of a joint Indo-US quantum coordination mechanism and the signing of an implementation arrangement on artificial intelligence, advanced wireless, and quantum technologies.

Both countries are working together on 5G and 6G technologies, including Open Radio Access Network (RAN) systems, with plans for field trials, rollouts, and scale deployments in both markets. “Here we’ll be announcing partnerships on open ran, field trials and rollouts, including scale deployments in both countries with operators and vendors of both markets. This will involve backing from the US International Development Finance, for cooperation and to promote the deployments in India,” the official said.

The US will support the removal of telecommunications equipment made by untrusted vendors through the US rip and replace program and welcomes Indian participation in this initiative.

The full list of signatories to the Artemis Accords is now as follows: Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, the Ukraine, and the United States.

One would hope that this decision would help separate India from China and Russia, but this is unclear.

There are other questions. India is a signatory to the Moon Treaty, which few other nations have signed because it essentially bans private enterprise in space, in a manner that is much more direct and oppressive than the restrictions imposed by the Outer Space Treaty, which almost all space-faring nations have signed. The Artemis Accords were originally conceived by the Trump administration as a way to get around the restrictions of the Outer Space Treaty, by creating a strong alliance that not only favors private property in space but will act in consort to defend it.

As signatory to the Moon Treaty, India is legally prevented from participating in such action. Either the Modi government has decided the Moon Treaty is irrelevant, considering so few nations have signed on, or it has decided to use its influence to shift the goals of the Artemis Accords alliance. Considering the overall hostility of the Biden administration to private enterprise, private property, and freedom, it is very possible it made promises to the Modi government to do exactly this, by turning the alliance into a power grab of its own, in order to get India to sign on.

All this is speculation. Modi in general has been what in America would be called a conservative, strongly encouraging private enterprise and discouraging government regulation and control. If anything, I would expect him to push this American alliance to protect property rights in space, not limit them.

In the end, however, these are politicians, whose only real purpose in life is the wielding of power. It would be wise to watch them very closely, and expect the worst from them.