Delhi violence toll rises to 13
Trump refuses to weigh in on citizenship law riots
Thirteen people were killed and more than 180 injured in violence that erupted in India’s capital New Delhi for a third day against the new Indian citizenship law.
As clashes continued last night, a shoot-at-sight order was issued in the riot-hit areas. Earlier, curfew was imposed in four affected areas of Maujpur, Chand Bagh, Karawal Nagar and Jafarabad.
US President Donald Trump, whose visit to Delhi was overshadowed by violence, refused to speak out publicly against the law. Asked about the law, Trump told reporters: “I don’t want to discuss that. I want to leave that to India.’’
Earlier, Trump said he’s optimistic about the prospects of inking a trade deal with India despite moves by both sides that created doubt about the ability to reach an agreement.
Trump also announced that India has signed a deal to purchase more than $3 billion of advanced military equipment, including helicopters.
US President Donald Trump touted “tremendous progress” on a trade deal with India as he sought to strengthen ties with a country key to American efforts to blunt China’s influence in Asia. Officials have tried to hammer out a modest trade deal opening up India to US agricultural products and medical devices in return for the restoration of preferential export status that Trump stripped from India last year. There was an expectation that a mini-deal would be unveiled before the US president’s visit, but Trump has since said he is in no hurry to finalise it.
“I’m optimistic we can reach a deal that will be of great importance to both countries,” Trump said yesterday while sharing a stage with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
The momentum on trade appeared to pave the way for closer strategic relations, as the United States looks to court India as a counterweight to China. Trump lauded increased security ties with India and showered praise on Modi, who has faced deadly protests — including during the president’s visit — over a citizenship law that singles out Muslims.
Central to that focus is the $3 billion (Dh11 billion) defence deal the two nations signed on this visit, which will boost the South Asian nation’s naval strength in waters where China is seeking greater leverage. Trump also highlighted the revamped ‘Quad’ — a group involving the United States, India, Japan and Australia — that’s taking on greater significance as the perceived threat of a more dominant China continues to grow.
QUAD INITIATIVE
“Together the prime minister and I are revitalising the quad initiative,” Trump said, noting expanded cooperation between the four nations on maritime and cyber security was vital “to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
Trump also touched upon Chinese communications giant Huawei Technologies Co.’s potential involvement in India’s 5G network. In December, India decided to allow Huawei to be included in its 5G trials.
“We discussed importance of a secure 5G wireless and the need for this emerging technology to be a tool for freedom, progress and prosperity — not to do anything where it could be even conceived as a conduit for suppression and censorship,” Trump said.
The US has tried to persuade other countries not to use Huawei equipment in emerging 5G networks, but the effort has faltered due to a lack of competing technology. “Both the United States and India want to see an Asia that isn’t dominated by any one power,” Alyssa Ayres, who served as deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asia during the Obama administration and is now at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Bloomberg TV. “That has been a pillar underlying a lot of the strategic and defence cooperation that’s grown so well over the course of the last recent years.”
Last week, India’s cabinet cleared a $2.6 billion purchase from Lockheed Martin Corp. of 24 multi-role MH-60R Seahawk maritime helicopters to the Indian navy. The State Department has also approved a potential sale to India of $1.8 billion in arms, including air-defence radars and missiles, rifles and other equipment, the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency announced.
CLOCK IS TICKING
Still, the clock is ticking for the nations to resolve their differences on trade, said Tanvi Madan, a senior fellow in the Project on International Order and Strategy in the Foreign Policy programme, and director of The India Project at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. “If they don’t resolve the trade question the friction will eventually spill over into the security side,” Madan said.
Trump told reporters in New Delhi yesterday he raised the issue of religious freedom with Modi, but declined to comment on demonstrations against the Indian government’s new religion-based citizenship law, even as deadly protests erupted just kilometres from where the two leaders met.