EAM S Jaishankar meets with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Tokyo. (File photo)
Two meetings in a span of 20 days and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, traveling half the world both times during a pandemic for an in-person engagement, gives a sense of urgency to the discussion, especially regarding the problem of China.
- CNN-News18 New Delhi
- Last update: October 7, 2020 10:03 PM IST
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After a bilateral meeting in Tokyo between Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the two will meet again in New Delhi later this month. The two will meet in the last week of October when Pompeo travels to New Delhi for the 2 + 2 dialogue.
Two meetings in a span of 20 days and Pompeo traveling halfway around the world both times during a pandemic for an in-person engagement gives a sense of urgency to the discussion, especially regarding at least one issue.
China has become a fulcrum between India and the United States in the current circumstances. While India has been grappling with Royal Line of Control (LAC) friction for the past five months, US President Donald Trump has made China an electoral issue after the ongoing trade war that led to a full-blown diplomatic row during the coronavirus pandemic. .
The Indo-Pacific strategy is also evolving quite clearly among the Quad countries, keeping China at the center of everything. If there were any doubts, a senior US State Department official resolved it and reported it to the media after the Quad ministerial meeting in Tokyo. “You cannot avoid the fact that it is China and its actions in the region that make the Quad really matter and work this time,” the official said.
Outside of Quad’s engagement, Jaishankar also held a bilateral meeting with Pompeo in Tokyo. While India’s press release just mentioned that the meeting took place amid other engagements, the US State Department issued a separate press release. He said the two “affirmed the need to work together to promote peace, prosperity and security in the Indo-Pacific and around the world.”
Since the Trump administration took office, trade issues between India and the United States have dominated the engagement between the two sides. Trump’s tirade against India over what he believed to be unfair tariffs took hold of the speech. Issues related to sanctions on Iran and the reduction of oil imports to zero from Tehran, terrorism emanating from Pakistan, the exemption from CAATSA sanctions on Russia and the purchase of defense equipment, as well as the Afghan peace, figured in discussions in recent years. Yet this time, China’s aggression is likely to be the dominant theme.
The United States has also been referring to the LAC situation in various briefings to stress the dangers posed by the actions of the Chinese Communist Party in the region. The US State Department official also said: “I mean, if you look at the conflict in the Himalayas between China and India, something that has been handled in the past according to unspoken or unwritten rules in the past to prevent these things from coming out. ” control, and then you look at what happened here recently, where there are actually people who beat themselves to death – no. We – it’s not – I mean, if you look at the one thing that’s driving all of this, it’s a sudden turn to serious aggression from the Chinese government across its periphery. “
Pompeo’s visit to India will come just a week before the US presidential election on November 3. The fact that, despite the pandemic, Americans have chosen not to have a virtual engagement and to travel for the 2 + 2 dialogue is also a reflection of perhaps their curiosity. to access the situation more closely. A senior US official recently told News18.com that they are closely monitoring the situation as both sides make claims to the contrary. So even though the anti-China narrative appears to suit the United States at the moment, they still want to make their own assessment sitting across the table in New Delhi.
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