India on Thursday played tough with the US, rejecting its comments that India and China have taken “tremendous advantage” because of their developing country status within the World Trade Organization (WTO), and criticized President Donald Trump’s statement that he would hold discussions with the international trade body chief for its reform.
New Delhi once again rejected any third-party intervention in Kashmir, pushing back against the US president’s remarks earlier this week that he would be happy to help solve tensions between India and Pakistan.
Trump made the remarks in Davos earlier this week on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meetings.
The plain-speaking from India is a sign of a maturity in its ties with the US, with which New Delhi has a warm relationship, despite hiccups on the trade and economic front, analysts said.
“India has consistently supported the rules-based multilateral system. We place great value on the WTO and the indispensible role of the institution within the rules-based multilateral trading system,” Indian foreign ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar told reporters in a counter to Trump, who on Wednesday said that the US had a “dispute running with the WTO for quite a while because our country has not been treated fairly”.
“China is viewed as a developing nation. India is viewed as a developing nation. We are not viewed as a developing nation. As far as we are concerned, we are a developing nation, too. However, they get tremendous advantages from the fact that they are considered developing and we are not. They shouldn’t be, but if they are, we are,” Trump had said at Davos.
Trump had also said he would soon hold discussions with WTO chief Roberto Azevedo to bring in dramatic changes in the trade body. “Roberto and I have a tremendous relationship and we are going to do something. I think it would be very dramatic. He will be coming with a lot of his representatives to Washington sometime next week, or the week after, and we will start working on it,” Trump said.
Kumar also said that New Delhi had taken note of Trump’s remarks in the presence of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday in Davos, where he said he was “closely” following the developments in Kashmir and seemed to offer mediation to resolve India-Pakistan disputes.
“Our position on the Kashmir issue has been clear and consistent. Let me once again reiterate that there is no role for any third party in this matter. If at all there are any bilateral issues between India and Pakistan to be discussed, it should be done bilaterally under the provisions of the Simla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration. The onus is on Pakistan to create a conducive atmosphere free from terror and violence,” Kumar said.
New Delhi has always opposed any third-party intervention in its bilateral dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir, while Islamabad has welcomed international mediation.
Trump caused a furore in India in July 2019 when he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked him to mediate on the Kashmir dispute. The Indian government had denied that statement within hours. Since then, Trump has repeated his offer many times, including on Tuesday, but New Delhi has firmly rejected them.
