A top White House official stated that the diplomatic ties between India and the United States are more than just a mutual concern over China. They also reflect a deeper understanding of the synergies.
Kurt Campbell, the White House’s Asia coordinator, claimed that both India and the US have “overcome” a number of obstacles and made efforts to improve relations over the past 20 years. “If you look at the last twenty years, the amount of hurdles that we have surmounted and the depth of engagement on our two sides is remarkable. And is not simply built on anxiety around China. It is a deeper understanding of the synergies between the (two) societies. Indian diaspora is a powerful connection,” the US official said at The Aspen Institute based in Washington.
Campbell emphasized the significance of the US-India alliance by stating that no bilateral relationship has grown and matured more quickly than that of the two nations over the past 20 years.
He advocated for increased technology and people-to-people connections, calling India “the most essential partnership for the United States, into the 21st century.”
Campbell, said, India has a distinct strategic personality and will not be a close ally of the United States.
“It has the desire to be an independent and powerful state. It will be another great power but there are reasons to be that our strategic alignment is growing across the board in almost every arena,” the White House Asia Coordinator said.
Further, calling for greater cooperation between the two democracies, he said the two sides should have some ambition. “We should look at things we can do together whether, in space, education, climate or technology and really move in that direction,” he said.
Speaking on the Indo-Pacific region, the White House official said, “What has happened in the Indo-Pacific over the last many years is anxiety about a number of developments. Clearly, China’s substantial rise and what that means. But the relative unpredictability of the United States has also rattled nerves in Asia.”
