Ex-envoy sees a widening of US relationship with India

Over the last few years and months, there has been a paradigm shift in the India-US relations with both the nations working together and holding a plethora of talks in the face of the increasing global security and other challenges, writes ETV Bharat's Chandrakala Choudhury

New Delhi: Commenting on the significance of the bilateral visits and meetings between India and the US, former ambassador and High Commissioner of India to Pakistan G. Parthasarathy said, “There is a strategic convergence of interest in India-US relations. This move for an improved relationship is two ways. The Americans are as keen as India is. The binding factor for the Americans is the Chinese and the binding factor for India is the China-Pak axis.

"This is a period when we are seeing certainly improved relations with the US. This is in the context of the US now taking on China’s challenge directly. Earlier, the Quad was focusing on matters militarily but now it is focusing on matters of economic interest like supply chains and vaccines. Therefore, it signals a widening of US relationship with India”.

Over the last few years and months, there has been a paradigm shift in the India-US relations with both the nations working together and holding a plethora of talks in the face of the increasing global security and other challenges.

After the US exited Afghanistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid an official visit to the US to participate in the first in-person Quad summit and discuss India-US global strategic partnership.

Days after PM Modi’s visit, a top American diplomat is slated to visit India next month (October) to hold talks with her Indian counterparts on bilateral and regional issues.

Parthasarathy said the visit of the US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will see vast discussion on vaccines. If everything goes well, India by the end of next year will become a major exporter of vaccines, the expert said.

Talking about the change in the geopolitical relations, Parthasarathy further pointed that, unlike others, India-US relation is moving ahead without India compromising its close relations with Moscow.

Deputy Secretary Sherman will be in New Delhi on October 6 for a series of bilateral meetings, civil society events, and the India Ideas Summit, said a spokesperson of the US Department of State on Monday.

The US Deputy Secretary will travel to Mumbai for engagements with business and civil society on October 7.

Apart from India, the US official along with Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Bonnie Jenkins will travel to Geneva, Switzerland on September 29 to lead a US interagency delegation to a September 30 US-Russia bilateral Strategic Stability Dialogue. The two delegations last met in Geneva on July 28.

The Strategic Stability Dialogue follows from a commitment made by President Joe Biden and Russian President V Putin in their June 2021 Geneva meeting to have a deliberate and robust dialogue that will seek to lay the groundwork for future arms control and risk reduction measures.

Deputy Secretary Sherman will complete her trip by travelling to Islamabad, Pakistan on October 7-8 to meet with senior officials.