Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has said that while US-India ties were “photographs” for President Donald Trump, for him it was about “getting things done,” and reiterated his promise to work with India to combat the terrorism and prevent China from threatening its neighbors.
To illustrate his contrast with the US president, Biden recalled the role he played in passing the “historic” civil nuclear deal between India and the United States as chairman of the US Senate foreign relations committee in 2008.
“At the time, I said that if the United States and India became closer friends, then the world would be a safer place,” Biden wrote in an opinion piece in India West, a news publication focused on the Indian diaspora.
President Barack Obama’s term in 2009-2016 saw “some of the best years” between the two countries, Biden wrote, adding that he and his Indian-descent running mate, Kamala Harris, “will build on that great progress and still make plus”.
“We can and must be natural allies,” wrote Biden, who currently has the upper hand in elections according to opinion polls, using a phrase first used by the late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee during a trip to the United States in 1998.
Since then, the leaders of both countries have tried their own version to define the relationship in their own vision.
Biden reiterated his promise, first made on an expansive platform that he unveiled on August 15 at a virtual event to mark India’s Independence Day, to work with India on its key foreign policy concerns.
“If I am elected president, I will continue what I have long called for: The United States and India will unite against terrorism in all its forms and work together to promote a region of peace and stability where neither China nor any other country threatens his neighbors. “Determination to fight terrorism is a reference to cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan.
Both Biden and Trump have courted Indian-American voters, estimated at 1.9 million, for their potential to make a difference, however small, in the battlefield states that will determine the outcome. “The American Indian electorate of nearly 2 million voters is a powerful force that can make a difference from North Carolina and Virginia to Pennsylvania and Michigan to Georgia and Texas and across the country,” he wrote, leaving no doubt that the Op -Ed was an appeal to the American Indian voters.
He added: “And as we value the Indian-American diaspora, we will continue to value the relationship between the United States and India. For Donald Trump, they are photographs. For me, it’s about getting things done. ”
It could not be immediately determined whether the former vice president was referring to a video released by the Trump campaign of clips of the president with Prime Minister Narendra Modi from their joint appearances at the ‘Howdy Modi’ and ‘Namaste Trump’ events in Houston. and Ahmedabad to woo American Indian voters.
Biden promised them better ties to their home country and better lives for them in the US, addressing their main concerns, as with other Americans: vowing to contain the Covid-19 epidemic, expand healthcare, not increase. taxes for those with a certain income. , encourage legal immigration, and make universities free for certain income categories.
Bide also pointed out in the opinion piece the importance of respecting diversity among other shared values. “We will meet all challenges together as we strengthen both democracies: free and fair elections, equality before the law, freedom of expression and religion, and the unlimited strength that both nations draw from our diversity,” he wrote, adding: “These principles have endured throughout the history of each country and will continue to be the source of our strength in the future “
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