US ties strong enough to overcome hiccups: India
WASHINGTON: Ruling out the possibility of the war in Ukraine leading to stresses in the India-US bilateral relationship, external affairs minister S Jaishankar has said that both Delhi and Washington have the strength and comfort levels to deal with all issues, including issues on which there may be disagreements.
The minister said that during their engagements this week, both India and the US were open and clear about their perspectives, and US policymakers were well-informed and aware of where India was coming from.
“There has been a huge change for the good, and that today really allows us to do much more with each other and engage each other in a different way than we would have done 10 or 20 years ago,” Jaishankar said about India-US ties, in an interaction with the media, at the end of the Washington leg of his US visit.
“I have been fairly open and clear about our positions and perspectives, and in all fairness, so have the Americans. Today, our relationship has the strength and comfort levels to discuss a lot of issues. We may not agree on all issues. But we have the strength and comfort to deal with that as well.”
Jaishankar also pointed out that there was a gap between what was happening between India and the US at the policy-level and the discourse in the public narrative on the Ukraine issue.
Suggesting that relationships with countries don’t appear instantaneously and aren’t susceptible to immediate solutions or changes, he pointed to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recognising the history of the IndiaRussia relations. “My sense from these discussions was that people in the administration, people dealing with policy, are well-informed. They understand where India is coming from. I will honestly say that the public narrative is very, very different. There is a gap between policy and narrative, and how do we narrow that and how do we bridge it is something we are focused on.”
He added that, at the same time, India was very clear about its interests, confident about speaking on them, and did not feel any reason to be defensive about it.
India and the US, the minister said, shared their political, diplomatic and strategic assessments of the situation in Ukraine and its fallout, discussed the consequences of the war, and ways in which India – which enjoys good relations with all the actors engaged in the conflict – can help with the goal of cessation of hostilities, which, according to the minister, should be the focus at the moment. It was India’s intent to help, Jaishankar said, for the conflict was hurting everyone.
During the talks, India and the US also discussed developments in the Indo-Pacific, including the progress since the Quad leaderssummit in September and preparations for the summit this summer.