The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Just before India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to be welcomed in the White House for his first state visit with President Obama, two perceived missteps by the Obama administration have concerned Indian officials that New Dehli suddenly has been relegated to the second tier of U.S.-Asian relations.
Singh arrives today on a four-day trip that is meant to solidify a relationship transformed under the Bush administration by a deal on nuclear technology, increasing trade and investment, immigration, educational exchanges and unprecedented security cooperation.
But ever sensitive to perceived slights, Indian officials and analysts say two statements made by the Obama administration during the president’s trip to Asia this week have raised concerns that Washington is leaning too closely to China, India’s main Asian competitor.
Indian officials note that in a speech on U.S. relations in Asia, President Obama did not mention India. Although the speech, delivered in Tokyo, focused on the Asia Pacific region and not South Asia, Indian officials and analysts said they were concerned that Obama did not recognize India’s broader regional aspirations.
Indian officials have also raised concerns that in a joint statement issued by the United States and China on Tuesday, Obama appeared to open the door for Beijing to act as a mediator of sorts in the long-term competition between India and Pakistan. China and the United States, the statement said, “are ready to strengthen communication, dialogue and cooperation on issues related to South Asia and work together to promote peace, stability and development in that region.”
Since the early 1960s, when China and India fought a border war, China has maintained close ties with Pakistan and, according to a recent Washington Post report, even supplied Islamabad with a blueprint for a nuclear device and the raw materials to explode one.
In New Delhi, Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Vishnu Prakash reacted to the joint statement by saying that “a third country role cannot be envisaged nor is it necessary” to solve the troubles between India and Pakistan. “Obama’s China [credit] card casts shadow on PM’s US visit,” ran the headline in the influential Times of India, referring to the $800 billion in U.S. Treasury securities held by China.
U.S. officials have attempted to tamp down the concerns.
“Of course, the United States is interested in pursuing the best and healthiest possible partnership with China; but that does not come at the expense of other increasingly important partnerships, particularly our relationship with India,” Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns said this week.
