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A senior White House official said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US was not about leveraging India to be a “counterbalance” to China but to deepen ties, including defense cooperation, between the world’s largest democracies. He left Saturday for Egypt after concluding a state visit during which he held wide-ranging talks with President Joe Biden and addressed the joint session of the US Congress.
He visited the United States at the invitation of President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. This state visit was not about China. See, India has challenges with China as well, right on its doorstep, but also more broadly in the region. And clearly, the challenges that the People’s Republic of China presented to our two countries were on the agenda yesterday, there’s no doubt about that, said John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council at the White House.
But this was not about taking advantage of India as a kind of counterweight. India is an independent sovereign country. They have their own foreign policy that they have to manage. He told reporters at a press conference here on Friday that they live in a Qas neighborhood. Kirby said India is becoming a growing source of security, which the United States welcomes.
“You can see a lot of that — our desire to improve the defense cooperation that was available yesterday in some of the outputs, whether it’s co-production of jet engines, whether it’s the purchase of MQ-9 drones. There’s a lot we can do in the field,” Kirby said in response to questions. The security front together, and that’s really what we’re focused on.Modi’s visit was meant to send a message to the American and Indian people about how important this bilateral relationship is to people around the world,” he said.
India has challenges with China on its own. He said they largely deal with these challenges themselves. I will add that they are members of the Indo-Pacific Quad and have been wonderful contributors through this multilateral forum. It is not an official alliance. It is not a military organization. Kirby said they have legitimate concerns in the Indo-Pacific which they address through their private vehicles as appropriate.
Addressing the joint meeting of the US Congress for the second time on Thursday, Modi said that “dark clouds of coercion and confrontation” were casting shadows over the Indo-Pacific, in a veiled attack on China amid its aggressive military maneuvers. In a strategically vital area. He said in the background of the protracted stand-off between the armies of India and China in eastern Ladakh.
The Prime Minister spoke of a region where all nations, small and large, are free and fearless in their choices, progress is not stifled by an impossible debt burden, connectivity is not tapped for strategic purposes, and where all nations are lifted up by the rising tide of common prosperity. His remarks came amid the economic crisis in countries like Sri Lanka and Pakistan, where China has made huge investments in infrastructure that are not viable. The two countries in South Asia are currently facing an unprecedented economic crisis.
“We share the vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific, connected by safe seas, defined by international law, free from domination and anchored by the centrality of ASEAN,” Modi said. “Our vision does not seek to contain or exclude but to build a cooperative region of peace and prosperity. We work through regional institutions and with our partners from within and outside the region. With this in mind, QUAD has emerged as a major force for good for the region.”
India, the United States, and many other world powers have spoken of the need to ensure a free, open, and prosperous Indo-Pacific against the backdrop of escalating Chinese military maneuvers in the region. China claims nearly all of the disputed South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in trade passes annually. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counterclaims on some of the areas claimed by China.
Beijing has built artificial islands and military facilities in the South China Sea. Kirby also said that President Biden feels good to have had the opportunity to discuss human rights concerns in India with Prime Minister Modi.
And in the end, he did, as he always does. We do not shy away from discussing human rights with foreign leaders. One of the reasons for establishing partnerships and friendships is to be honest and direct. He said but I think he addressed that really well in his answer guys.
(This story was not edited by the News18 staff and was published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)
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