The Biden administration will roll out the purple carpet this week for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrives in Washington Wednesday for a go to the White House hopes will strengthen U.S.-India ties within the face of China’s rising aggression within the Indo-Pacific.
Mr. Modi, who acquired an particularly heat reception from former President Donald Trump on a 2019 go to to Houston, can be handled to a state dinner by President Biden and first woman Jill Biden on the White House Thursday. He’ll additionally handle a joint session of Congress Thursday afternoon.
The Biden administration will search in the course of the go to to emphasise India’s significance to wider U.S.-led efforts to counter China’s autocratic posturing on the worldwide stage. Also mentioned can be India’s shut relations with Russia.
Analysts say Mr. Modi will push for an growth of commerce with the U.S., whereas the Biden administration needs the Indian prime minister’s assist in diversifying U.S. provide chains and manufacturing bases for high-tech merchandise, together with microchips, away from China and towards like-minded democracies.
While India ranks eighth on the record of U.S. international buying and selling companions — lagging effectively behind China, which is third — the Indian economic system is among the many world’s largest and quickest rising. Meanwhile, India this yr is on monitor to surpass China because the world’s most populous nation.
A White House spokesperson stated the Modi go to “will strengthen our two countries’ shared commitment to a free, open, prosperous and secure Indo-Pacific and our shared resolve to elevate our strategic technology partnership, including in defense, clean energy and space.”
The spokesperson added that the assembly “will affirm the deep and close partnership between the United States and India and the warm bonds of family and friendship that link Americans and Indians together.”
Nearly 3 million Indian immigrants are within the U.S., with one million extra with Indian heritage, a diaspora whose presence is more and more felt on the U.S. political panorama. Two 2024 Republican presidential candidates, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, are of Indian descent.
Mr. Modi is slated to deal with an invitation-only gathering of 850 influential Indian Americans on the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington on Friday, in accordance with New Delhi Television.
During talks earlier within the week, Mr. Biden and Mr. Modi are anticipated to concentrate on their nations’ dedication to a free and safe Indo-Pacific area, in addition to on their know-how partnerships, together with in clear power and house, in accordance with the White House.
The Russia issue
U.S.-India relations have been burdened by mutual suspicion in the course of the Cold War period, when India maintained a protection partnership with the previous Soviet Union. The relationship between New Delhi and Washington has shifted in more moderen many years as the 2 democracies have aligned extra intently amid the worldwide rise of Communist Party-ruled China.
However, Russia stays India’s largest provider of navy {hardware}. A report by Reuters famous that successive U.S. administrations have sought to wean India away from its protection partnership with Moscow, though New Delhi has elevated its buy of low-cost Russian oil within the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine — a lot to the frustration of the West.
U.S.-India relations within the Biden period have been heat, but in addition marked by complexity as Mr. Biden has sought stronger ties with India — the world’s largest democracy — whereas concurrently seeking to counter China’s rising financial and navy assertiveness within the Indo-Pacific area.
Since coming to workplace, Mr. Biden has run with the previous Trump administration’s push to invigorate the Quad, a global partnership among the many U.S., Australia, India and Japan. The grouping has aligned to counter China’s financial stress in opposition to smaller nations within the Indo-Pacific.
It has additionally sought to rally the world in opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Unlike the opposite Quad nations and almost each different main U.S. ally, nevertheless, India has not imposed sanctions on Russia and has supplied solely restricted criticism of its invasion of Ukraine.
• This article relies partly on wire service experiences.
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