Active Stocks
Thu Mar 28 2024 15:59:33
  1. Tata Steel share price
  2. 155.90 2.00%
  1. ICICI Bank share price
  2. 1,095.75 1.08%
  1. HDFC Bank share price
  2. 1,448.20 0.52%
  1. ITC share price
  2. 428.55 0.13%
  1. Power Grid Corporation Of India share price
  2. 277.05 2.21%
Business News/ Politics / Policy/  John Kerry, Chuck Hagel to visit India in coming weeks to strengthen ties
BackBack

John Kerry, Chuck Hagel to visit India in coming weeks to strengthen ties

Secretary of state Kerry will be coming to India on 31 July, followed by defence secretary Hagel in early August

Secretary of state John Kerry will represent the US in an annual session of Strategic Dialogue with India scheduled for 31 July. Photo: Reuters Premium
Secretary of state John Kerry will represent the US in an annual session of Strategic Dialogue with India scheduled for 31 July. Photo: Reuters

Washington: America’s top diplomat and the head of its defence department will visit India in coming weeks seeking to revitalize a relationship the US sees as a crucial counterbalance in Asia to an increasingly assertive China.

Secretary of state John Kerry will represent the US in an annual session of Strategic Dialogue with India scheduled for 31 July and he will be followed to New Delhi by defence secretary Chuck Hagel in early August, US officials said on Wednesday.

They will be the most senior US officials to visit India for talks with the new government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi since his May election. Modi is expected to visit the US in September.

In testimony for a hearing of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Nisha Biswal, the US assistant secretary of state for South Asia, noted that President Barack Obama had said the US-India relationship would be “one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century."

She also said Modi had told US deputy secretary of state Bill Burns in India last week that the world would benefit from closer US-India ties.

“Across the board ... we have an opportunity here to engage more robustly with in India in how the Asian landscape unfolds," she said. “And we look forward to engaging with the new government in that agenda."

Biswal referred to planned joint military exercises involving India, the US and Japan, a country with a growing strategic rivalry with China in East Asia.

“We see opportunities for increasing the collaboration across Southeast Asia," she said.

“We are engaging more frequently in consultations and dialogue with India on Asean (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and look forward to increased and more frequent consultations across the East Asian sphere," Biswal said, adding:

“A rising India is in some ways going to be an ameliorating influence on China, in China’s own growth and China’s own behaviour in the region."

Amy Searight, the US deputy assistant secretary of defence for South and Southeast Asia, said there was “a real strategic convergence" as India looked east in Asia and the US pursued its “rebalance" to the continent.

“We both are looking to the challenges in East Asia today, of which a rising China is certainly a major part," she said.

Searight said there were growing relationships between India and Japan and India and the Asean countries, including Vietnam, a country which has been playing out a bitter territorial rivalry with Beijing in the South China Sea.

Referring to India’s growing relationships with other Asian countries, Searight added: “We want to capitalize on that ... we want to support that activity." Reuters

Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!

Catch all the Politics News and Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
More Less
Published: 17 Jul 2014, 09:27 AM IST
Next Story footLogo
Recommended For You
Switch to the Mint app for fast and personalized news - Get App