President Joe Biden respects successful ties with India: White House

WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI: The leadership of India and the US have reaffirmed their commitment to continue and strengthen the bilateral partnership, with a White House spokesperson saying President Joe Biden “respects and values” the “long, bipartisan, successful” ties between leaders of the two sides.

Biden and Prime Minister

Narendra Modi have spoken once since the American leader’s election last November, and could again soon as the president begins calling counterparts in allied and partner countries. Biden will start making these calls on Friday, with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau being the first.

Biden, who has visited India many times, “respects and values the long, bipartisan, successful relationship between leaders in India and the US” and “looks forward to a continuation of that”, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said at the daily news briefing on Thursday. As proof of Biden’s support for the relationship, Psaki brought up vice president Kamala Harris: “Obviously, he selected...the first Indian American

to serve as president or vice president, certainly a historic moment for all of us in this country, but further, you know, cementing of the importance of our relationship.”

Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, came to the US from Chennai, and her father, Donald Harris, from Jamaica.

In New Delhi, external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag

Srivastava told a news briefing that the Indian side will continue to engage the new US administration to build on ties and tackle common global challenges.

Modi had congratulated Biden on his election on November 8 and on assuming office on January 20, and the two leaders spoke on phone on November 17, during which both “affirmed their interest in working together to strengthen the India-US comprehensive global strategic partnership”, he said.

As the Biden administration settles in, policymakers and experts in the US and India are eager to know its approach to India. Republican senator Mitt Romney asked Antony Blinken, the nominee for secretary of state, about it at a confirmation hearing by the Senate foreign relations committee on Tuesday.

Blinken said given all that was done by previous administration, “one area I think that has a lot of promise, and maybe even necessity, is actually climate”. He added, “At the current rate, India is poised... to catch up to China in terms of the emissions.”

US President Joe Biden.