China's rise has led to foreign policy changes in a number of major countries, including India. Nonalignment was the keystone of Indian foreign policy during the Cold War, but there has been gradual shift to "multialignment" in the post-Cold War period as India seeks to cope with China's growing might.
India was a founding member of the nonaligned movement under its first prime minister, J. L. Nehru. Nehru harbored illusions of Asian unity, believing that nonalignment would allow Asian nations to peacefully cooperate with one another. India, therefore, did not require a strong defense policy.
