About the Biden administration and China
Many people in India, the United States, and elsewhere have been trying to figure out how the Biden Administration would respond to China’s challenge. They have been partly concerned by some hesitation that was seen during the Obama Administration …
President Trump himself, at first, gave contradictory signals … Later, the Trump Administration clearly defined China as a great global rival, a strategic competitor …
Now when you look at what Biden has said and what people around him have said … they have said that the current situation is very different from the situation in 2016, China follows unfair trade practices, China is a major technological rival of The US … I think there will be some nuances because they will want to show that they are different from the Trump Administration, and some have said that Trump was very aggressive towards China in the end, but Biden would be more effective towards China, because Biden has. . He said that he will bring allies and partners to have a common approach to China. Although the United States under Trump had taken a very aggressive approach towards China, the Europeans did not follow him because he had criticized the alliances. But if the United States wants an effective policy on China, it needs to bring its allies in Europe and Asia together on a common platform to respond to China’s challenge.
On the future of Quad
Clearly, the Quad advanced much further under the Trump Administration … Quad of course had started earlier, then slipped a bit because Australia lost interest in the process due to its own relationship with China … But now, like everyone else Countries, be it Australia Japan, India, the US face similar challenges in many ways from China. There is recognition of some harmonization of labor in the Indo-Pacific region … If you look at the conversations that Biden has had with the Prime Minister of Japan, the Prime Minister of Australia, President of South Korea, and in the statement that has issued the American part, there is a reference to the Indo-Pacific and therefore it is an acknowledgment that in some areas, they will recognize and take advantage of the positive aspects. work that has been done by the Trump Administration.
On the approach to Pakistan
The United States will define its approach to Pakistan based on how it perceives its own interests being served, and from India’s perspective, we have to see where the convergence and divergence is … Today, the United States wants to get out of Afghanistan, and they believe they need the cooperation of Pakistan for a dialogue with the Taliban if some kind of reconciliation can be achieved between the Taliban and the government of Afghanistan. And because of that, the sharpness of his rhetoric and actions related to Pakistan has diminished. All they have done is keep Pakistan on the gray list of their Financial Action Task Force, as a pressure point.
Now the United States has traditionally struggled with a policy on Pakistan, either to incentivize Pakistan or to pressure Pakistan … I think a Biden administration would be clear about the nature of the Pakistani state, its involvement with terrorist groups. So they will recognize that, but they will have a certain need for cooperation from Pakistan in the context of Afghanistan and that will limit the scope of the pressure …
On Biden’s likely policy on immigration
The Biden campaign had made it clear that they would not be as tough on immigration issues as the Trump Administration has been. The Biden Administration has noted that they recognize that the highly skilled immigrant worker, including the highly skilled Indian immigrant worker, contributes to the United States remaining in the lead in technology globally …
But this is a challenge that I also have at the time of the Obama Administration. Even then, there was a phase where the visa fees for H1B workers of certain categories of companies, which hit Indian companies a lot, were raised to three times. So this is the pressure that the American system faces: they want to get more skilled workers because it helps the US, but at the same time, many American workers who are unemployed, who lose jobs, start to generate a campaign that they are losing jobs because of the H1B immigrant worker. And that creates pressure on congressmen, senators to try to restrict that. So I think the Biden Administration would have to work its way through these as well.
About USA and India-Russia
Clearly, this will be an important topic. For India, our previous relationship with the Soviet Union and now with Russia is very important. The Soviet Union gave us military support, military supplies, political support, at a time when it was not available in the West, not in the United States or in other countries. And even today, almost 60% of our defense inventory is of Russian origin and there are certain areas where we source technologies from Russia at competitive prices that are not available elsewhere …
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On the likely focus of the Biden Administration in Kashmir, CAA / NRC
We have to recognize that American leaders will base their policy on their compulsions, their constituent interests, and therefore take a position on the issues they articulate as human rights, depending on how it plays out for them and their voters. I would have seen the kind of comments that came from Bernie Sanders at one point, comments that came from Kamala Harris, from Pramila Jayapal. But at the same time, people in Biden’s camp have said that any dispute with India on human rights issues would be based on a discussion among friends. My own feeling is that India makes its decisions based on its own interests; We don’t have to be unnecessarily insecure or defensive about the decisions we make. America has its own challenges, systemic racism … all societies face challenges. Therefore, any discussion or dialogue between India and the US related to human rights should be a dialogue between friends who are trying to understand each other, who want to advance their relationship, and a recognition that each society has challenges that it faces.
On Biden’s cabinet appointments
When I look at the appointments made so far, it’s a clear sign that President-elect Biden is comfortable with the people who worked closely with him: Tony Blinken was his national security adviser; Jake Sullivan was his national security adviser until 2014. I had the opportunity to interact with many of them: Sullivan, who used to be the Director of Policy Planning at the State Department when I was there, Blinken in his various capacities, Avril Haines It was the NSA deputy director.
So the clear feeling I had was that they are all very aware and very committed to the relationship between India and America. During the Obama administration, there were many firsts. In 2009, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was invited as the Obama administration’s first state visitor. In the United States, state visits are a very clear signal … and President Obama wanted to point out that there was going to be continuity from the time of President Bush, from the time of the civil nuclear cooperation agreement … And then also declared India as a defense partner – no other country in the world has this status, and it was done deliberately because India is not an ally and yet they wanted to give India the same level of access to technology as their more allies and partners. close.
Vice President Biden had come to India in 2013 and, speaking at the Mumbai Stock Exchange, said he would like to reiterate what President Obama had said, that the relationship between India and the United States would be the defining relationship of the 21st century. And he talked about what he had said in 2006, that by 2020, he wants the relationship between the United States and India to be the closest. And we are in 2020 now. So, I would say that given the fact that many on the Obama-Biden team will continue to be on the Biden-Harris team, I am very confident in my interactions when I was there that the India-US relationship will continue to strengthen the next. four years.
Transcribed by Mehr Gill
(Edited excerpts)
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