At G20, Biden working on ties to India
NEW DELHI — President Joe Biden arrived here Friday on a four-day trip to Asia aimed at advancing a range of American priorities at a time when deep global divisions are challenging the relevance of the annual gathering of the Group of 20 economic powers.
Biden landed in the Indian capital and immediately headed to a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom Biden hosted recently for a state visit in Washington and who has been using the conference to bolster his standing at home. At the conclusion of the G-20 meeting Sunday, Biden will make a short stop in Vietnam, a country he is seeking to entice into a partnership against China.
Senior administration officials want to use the summit to advance financial support for developing countries as well as to project confidence in the importance of the G-20 — even as leaders such as Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin have decided to skip the meeting this year amid tensions over the war in Ukraine.
Upon arriving, Biden was greeted by several officials, including Eric Garcetti, the U.S. ambassador to India, and his daughter, Maya. Loud pop music played from a small stage nearby, and Biden paused briefly to listen and watch dancers, before getting into his car to travel to Modi’s residence.
Aside from the meeting with Modi, Biden has planned no other formal bilateral meetings with G-20 participants; other leaders present include Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, although there may be informal engagements on the sidelines of the meetings.
No reporters were allowed to cover Biden’s meeting with Modi, a departure from typical practice where photographers and videographers are allowed to record the start of such meetings. Reporters often have an opportunity to shout questions at that point.
U.S. officials have pushed for days to provide some degree of media access to Biden’s meeting with Modi but have met resistance from their Indian counterparts.
Following the meeting, Kurt Campbell, the National Security Council’s coordinator for the Indo-Pacific, said the session showcased a Biden-Modi relationship as one of “undeniable warmth and confidence.”
He said the ties and trust between the two countries were growing stronger, and characterized it as the most important bilateral relationship for this century. Seeking to take advantage of the absence of Xi and Putin as the superpowers vie for India’s allegiance, he also said that “it is a disappointment for India that Russia and China aren’t here.”
“We fully intend to strengthen and deepen our relationship,” Campbell said. “We leave it to China in particular to explain and discuss why they aren’t here — it’s really their business. But for our Indian partners, there’s substantial disappointment that they are not here, and gratitude that we are.”