India’s premier seeks to cement ties to U.S.
In visit to Washington, Modi pushes for alliance with America that will outlast Obama’s term
WASHINGTON — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, emphasizing the importance of a continued relationship between the world’s oldest democracy and its largest.
But this visit to the United States, Modi’s fourth since he became prime minister two years ago, was undertaken with a unique purpose: to sow the seeds of a resolute alliance that will last beyond President Barack Obama’s term.
“Our nations may have been shaped by differing histories, cultures and faiths. Yet our belief in democracy for our nations and liberty for our countrymen is common,” Modi said in his congressional address. “The embrace of our partnership extends to the entirety of human endeavor — from the depths of the oceans to the vastness of the space.”
Unlike in past trips to the U.S., Modi wasn’t greeted by throngs of tens of thousands at venues as large as Madison Square Garden. Instead, he got down to business.
In meeting with Obama on Tuesday and both houses of Congress 24 hours later, Modi was on a mission to emphasize his country’s close relationship with the United States and cement ties with its biggest trading partner before Obama leaves office.
Advocates for change
During a joint meeting Tuesday, Obama and Modi announced that the two counties would work closely together to join the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The United States and India are the second and third largest greenhouse gas emitters in the world, respectively.
“Both Obama and Modi think that they have very strong moral obligations for the future to do something about the problem,” said Andrew Light, distinguished senior fellow at the World Resource Institute’s Climate Program.
But while the prime minister’s speech to Congress was largely filled with praise for America’s long-standing relationship with India, when he did mention climate change, the Republican side of the House chamber fell noticeably quiet.
Modi is likely to find more bipartisan support in the area of nuclear and defense trading.
The U.S. lifted its three-decade-long ban on the sale of nuclear materials to India in 2005, forming one of the largest civil nuclear trading partnerships in the world. Obama also has voiced his support for India’s acceptance into the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a coalition of 48 nuclear supplying nations that advocates nonproliferation by controlling nuclear exports.
India is the globe’s secondlargest buyer of American-made weapons.
An ‘indispensable partner’
According to Sadanand Dhume, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a center-right research center, American lawmakers and policy experts see India’s growing strength as a way to curb a potential Chinese hegemony in that part of the world.
“Many people in U.S. foreign-policy circles see India as a potentially stabilizing force in Asia,” Dhume said.
Modi acknowledged in his address that his nation’s push toward modernization greatly depends on support from the U.S., calling his ally an “indispensable partner” in that effort.
Dhume said Modi wanted to consolidate the gains he’d made with Obama and build on them with whoever may come to occupy the White House next year.