Sandeep dikshit
Tribune news service
New Delhi, October 23
After failing to feature in the first presidential debate between US President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, India appeared in the second issue, but not in the way that advocates of much closer Indo-American strategic relations did. they would have wished.
Look at China. How disgusting it is. Look at Russia. Look at India, it’s dirty. The air is dirty, ” Trump said in a comment that cut several strategic analysts to the bone. On the other hand, the United States has the “lowest number in carbon emissions,” he said.
Several questioned on social media the need for Trump to make an unpleasant reference to India when they expected Indo-US ties to take a strategic turn during the upcoming visit of two top US cabinet ministers to India. They also wondered if Trump had this vision for India, why did he make a return visit to Ahmedabad Stadium just six months after being greeted at a Houston stadium by Prime Minister Narendra Modi?
Biden did not mention India.
Trump was responding to a question from the moderator of the debate, Kristen Welker, about how he would simultaneously combat climate change and support job growth.
The debate was expected to introduce India and the neighborhood in general. During the first debate, the two candidates did not talk much about US foreign policy, especially in Asia Pacific, which appears to be the focus of the current administration.
One reason for the superficial references to foreign policy is also because a debate was canceled after Trump declined to participate in an online format.
Welker had chosen six topics for in-depth discussions. Three of them were domestic issues, while the other three (climate change, leadership, and national security) had foreign policy ramifications.
Trump, however, was consistent in his remarks in blaming all three countries. In the first debate on September 29, he said: “China throws real dirt into the air. Russia does it, India does it, everyone does it. ”
