In an interview with The Economist, Indian External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar said that diversification of supply chains away from China and increased digitization will bolster India-US ties.
Ahead of Indian PM Narendra Modi’s visit to the US, the EAM highlighted various facets of the India-US relationship and said that while defence is central to India’s relationship with the US, other aspects cannot be overlooked.
In an interview with The Economist, India’s foreign minister laid out his vision of the country’s long-term future role in the world. Read the transcript here https://t.co/mDNQLm9NLa
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) June 20, 2023
Defence and Technology Central to India-US Ties
The EAM said the relationship between the US and India has picked up momentum in the last decade and noted that their relationship is progressively improving with each passing day.
“During these two decades, we’ve actually had four presidents in the US who couldn’t be more different from each other. And yet the commitment that has united them has really been developing the relationship with India,” the EAM stated.
Jaishankar expressed his belief that India-US ties will be further boosted by two big economic changes — diversification of supply chains away from China and increased digitisation. He said that this “new globalisation”, in theory, depends on the sort of mutual trust India and America are building.
Emphasising the significance of India-US defence cooperation, Jaishankar said that the US views India as a crucial political and strategic partner in the Indo-Pacific region. Mentioning India’s defence engagements with the US, Jaishankar highlighted that the strategic aspect forms the centrepiece of the US-India relationship. However, he mentioned that the human and technological connections between the two nations should not be underplayed. Jaishankar also stressed that the US does not share the same level of technological partnership it has with India with any other nation.
The EAM also highlighted the popularity of the India-US relationship among civil society and said that while the Indian elite has earlier been hesitant toward stronger India-US ties, it is not the case anymore. “For the last decade you [the US] have had a government which does not have those ideological hesitations.
#WATCH | Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves from Delhi for his first official State visit to the United States.
— ANI (@ANI) June 20, 2023
He will attend Yoga Day celebrations at the UN HQ in New York and hold talks with US President Joe Biden & address to the Joint Session of the US Congress in… pic.twitter.com/y6avSoPpkd
US-led Global Order, Quad, China
Speaking on India’s stance on the US-led global order, the EAM said that Western governments and the Biden administration are “acutely conscious that the post-1945 order has been severely challenged and that they need a new template, new partners, that they need to look beyond the alliance constructs.” He highlighted that “the world has undergone a fundamental change in the last 20 years” and “requires a very different set of relationships.”
On the question of the Quad, Jaishankar mentioned that “the Quad’s four countries — India, Australia, Japan, and the US — have come together because they believe that their interests are better served by working together.” Furthermore, Jaishankar highlighted that Quad is not limited to the subject of security. “Security is such an enormous landscape out there, a whole very set of connections and interactions and relationships,” he said.
Asked whether India-US ties were rekindled because of China, Jaishankar said that India’s relationship with the US is independent of its issues with China.
The upcoming US visit of PM Modi is being seen as the most substantial development between the India-US ties since the 2005 civil-nuclear deal. It will be interesting to see what the two countries achieve with high hopes pinned on the visit.