Over the last 50 years, through the determined efforts of organizations such as the East-West Center, University of Hawaii and Pacific Forum International, world leaders, diplomats, scholars, security professionals and cultural ambassadors have graced the shores of Hawaii besides the honeymooners, backpackers and snowbirds. Some have even gone on to call Hawaii their hale, or home.

However, not until recently has Hawaii witnessed a surge in visitors from all corners of the world. One such is India. The diaspora, while growing slowly, has found its place in restaurants, universities and research institutions. Direct engagement with the world’s largest democracy is also gathering steam. Most recently, the foreign policy research institute Pacific Forum convened a high-level track 2.0 dialogue with its Indian partner, India Foundation on the island of Kauai, to discuss ways and means of advancing cooperation in the Pacific.

Why does this matter to Hawaii?

Hawaii residents have become patently aware of the risks of war. Hawaii has a rich history of activism, opposing the militarization of the islands. Hawaii even got a taste of potential conflict with the 2018 incident of the false alert of an incoming missile. Plus, Washington’s recent public overtures to Taiwan, its hardline toward Beijing, give Hawaii people reasons to worry.

To security professionals, Hawaii is part of the “third- island chain” between the People’s Republic of China and the United States. However, for people of the Hawaiian islands, this is home.

While activism and advocacy for increased restraint and diplomacy highlight this, America’s partnerships with influential nations diametrically opposed to full-blown war between nations may have a more profound influence on Washington’s statecraft in the Pacific.

Unlike Washington’s partnerships with Seoul, Tokyo and NATO allies, the partnership with India is not a treaty-based partnership nor a defense pact. While the two have expanded defense and security ties, there is no mutual-defense treaty in place. Even while a party to the Quad group of nations of the U.S., Australia and Japan, India has been repeatedly labeled as the “difficult partner” for its aversion to transform the grouping into a full-fledged Asian NATO or become party to any form of treaty alliances and fealties.

In a state of conflict in the region, New Delhi’s modus operandi would be calling for restraint. This approach bodes well for peace in Hawaii. New Delhi’s strategic autonomy and policies such as non-alignment that have irked Washington may just be what the doctor ordered for Hawaii’s people seeking restraint and diplomacy from Washington.

Over the last two years, Western nations have repeatedly criticized India for its continued engagement with Russia amidst the ongoing war in Ukraine. Even under pressure from the West to isolate Russia, New Delhi has not buckled, nor joined Wests camp in its sanctions. It is, however, in the camp of the Global South, that has largely not joined the West in sanctions on Russia. Even in its own border dispute with China, it has continued to engage the People’s Liberation Army in 21 rounds of talks to find a resolution to the issue.

While the West has approached world affairs baton first, talk and bread later in the last three decades — engaging in interventionist war and conflict throughout the Middle East, and indirectly through proxies in other parts of the world — New Delhi has adopted a bread and dialogue-first approach, delivering public goods, timely humanitarian assistance and representing the voices of the underrepresented, including in the Pacific. As a testament, the prime minister of Papua New Guinea said that the Indian prime minister was considered as the “leader of the Global South,” representing the Pacific Island nations voices in global platforms.

Taking inspiration from Adm. Joe Vasey’s words of wisdom of “finding a better way,” the dialogue on Kauai explored the avenues for expanded cooperation between two nations with starkly different approaches to world affairs. One of the key recommendations that came out of the two-day discussion was to discourage the U.S. from trying to rally India behind it on all global issues, but instead, focus on joint efforts in addressing nontraditional security issues such as development aid, environment and humanitarian assistance in the Pacific.

To prevent a conflict in the Pacific, a vocal non-aligned partner may be a better option than a follower bound by treaties. Increased engagement between the U.S. and India, particularly in Hawaii, could bode well for peace in Hawaii and the Pacific, even if Washington is frustrated by New Delhi’s non-alignment.

Akhil Ramesh is director of the India Program and Economic Statecraft Initiative, part of the Honolulu-based Pacific Forum.