Top United States diplomats on Thursday said that India was more than just a partner for the Joe Biden administration in its vision for the Indo-Pacific region, ANI reported.
Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu said that the United States works more closely with India on a daily basis than any other country in the region.
Lu made the remarks during a telephone conference with Daniel Kritenbrink, the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. The two were discussing the recently released Indo-Pacific strategy by the White House.
“We had the opportunity to sit down with [India’s] External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar,” Lu said, according to ANI. “ [US Secretary of State]Antony Blinken and Jaishankar discussed strategic partnership and way to strengthen Indo-Pacific cooperation of the Quad.”
Last week, Jaishankar had met his counterparts from the Quad countries – Australia, Japan and the United States – in Melbourne. This was the first fourth meeting of foreign ministers of the Quad countries.
At Thursday’s conference, Lu also said that Blinken and Jaishankar had an “honest discussion” on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis during the meeting in Melbourne.
“I think this is reflective of the close relationship we have with one another,” Lu said, according to The Hindu. “This is a complex issue for the United States. It’s a complex issue for India as well. We share values and we talk about every issue, including the tough ones.”
Since early this year, Russia has amassed over one lakh troops at the Ukrainian border, raising fears of an imminent invasion. The two countries have been engaged in a conflict since 2014 when Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
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