India, Feb. 14 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi's highly anticipated meeting with United States (US) President Donald Trump to set the course for bilateral relations between India and the US under the new American administration offered a demonstration of the value of strategic flexibility. With Trump rattling all foreign counterparts through characteristically hardline demands and complaints, the way Modi handled Trump's transactional nature while advancing the long-term strategic elements of the India-US friendship was surely a diplomatic feat.

India is too independent and ambitious a power to follow a path of appeasement of the US. But being mindful of the overall gains of the US-India's comprehensive global strategic partnership and a...