US President-elect Joe Biden believes that the India-US partnership is the defining relationship of the 21st century, and plans to strengthen ties between the two countries.
The 77-year-old Biden, who has a history of advocating for a stronger relationship between India and the United States, also believes there is a lot of room in bilateral trade. When the former vice president traveled to India, he set out to bring bilateral trade to $ 500 billion, which today is just over $ 150 billion.
After a tense week of vote counting, Biden won the state of Pennsylvania and leapt ahead in the race to become the next president of the United States. Biden’s victory in the key state of the battlefield placed him above the threshold of 270 electoral votes, cutting off all avenues for his opponent.
Biden had also expressed his views on the US-India relationship in multiple ways and platforms during his election campaign. He took a strong objection to a comment made by President Donald Trump during the final presidential debate in which he described the air in India as “dirty.”
“President Trump called India ‘unclean.’ It’s not about how you talk about friends or how you solve global challenges like climate change, ”Biden said in a tweet, two days after Trump during a presidential debate accused China, India and Russia of not taking care of their air. ” dirty “. .
“Look China, how disgusting it is. Look at Russia. Look at India. The air is dirty, ”Trump had said during the debate.
“Kamala Harris and I deeply value our partnership and will put respect back at the center of our foreign policy,” Biden said Saturday while retweeting his op-ed in the latest issue of the ethnic weekly India West.
“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, ”Biden said in his op-ed, reflecting on his history of US-India relations.
“Fifteen years ago, I was leading the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with Republican Dick Lugar to pass the historic Civil Nuclear Agreement between our nations and promote our technology exchange and defense cooperation. At that time, I said that if the United States and India became closer friends, then the world would be a safer place, ”he wrote.
Biden said that seven years ago, as vice president, he told business leaders in Mumbai that the US-India partnership was the defining relationship of the 21st century. “The Obama-Biden years were some of the best we have had between our two countries. A Biden-Harris Administration will build on that great progress and do even more. We can and must be natural allies, ”he wrote.
“So 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 threaten neighbors. We will open markets and increase the middle class in both the United States and India, and together we will face other international challenges, such as climate change, global health, transnational terrorism and nuclear proliferation, ”said Biden.
“We will face all challenges together as we strengthen both democracies: free and fair elections, equality before the law, freedom of speech and religion, and the unlimited strength that both nations draw from our diversity. These basic principles have endured throughout the history of each country and will continue to be the source of our strength in the future, ”he said.
.
