US sees India as 'critical strategic partner', calls its role in QUAD 'very significant'

Washington sees New Delhi’s role in QUAD as a “very high priority” as it has a “very significant” element including the much-enhanced ability to speak frankly about issues in the region, said a top US official on Friday. Speaking during a press call, a senior Biden administration official previewing the US’ Indo-Pacific Strategy highlighted the importance of ties between the US and India. The official called India a “critical strategic partner” and expressed US’ desire to continue building on the “very good work” in order to significantly broaden and deepen the relationship between the two nations. 

"With regard to India, I think we are very explicitly highlighting the importance of, what the last four administrations have all played a very important role in advancing, which is the much greater US engagement, much improved US relations with and much closer US partnership with India," the Biden administration official said in a statement.

"India's role in the QUAD, is a very significant element of that, including the much-enhanced ability to speak frankly about issues in the region, to work together to deliver, essentially, public goods that address, challenges in the region, and to enhance ways in which we can coordinate. So we see this (India) as a very, very high priority,” the official added. 

Further, asserting that India is in a very different place, in many ways than Australia and other countries, the senior official stated that New Delhi faces very significant challenges. According to the press statement, the official noted China’s behaviour in the line of actual control and said that Beijing’s actions has had a “galvanising” impact on India. The official also went on to say that from the US’ standpoint, there are tremendous opportunities in working with another democracy, with a country that has a maritime tradition that understands the importance of the global commons to advance critical issues in the region. 

The Biden administration official also noted that there is a tremendous appreciation of the importance and the challenges of strengthening the engagement with India. There is also a “recognition that India is a critical strategic partner, and a desire to continue building on the very good work of previous administrations to significantly broaden and deepen that relationship,” the official added. 

'Changing India-US relationship has been a defining development'

Meanwhile, it is to mention that during bilateral talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the QUAD Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, EAM S Jaishankar stated that the changing India-US relationship has been a very defining development in this century. Hailing the India-US relations, Jaishankar delivered the opening address, saying that he welcomed the chance to sit with Blinken and look at the "positive trajectory" laid out for both the nations. 

"QUAD, we have progressed a lot and much of that is due to the fact that we've all devoted a lot of time, energy, attention to that. We have made it into concrete actionable propositions our teams have worked on...A big part of that is because we've strong bilateral relationships," Jaishankar said.

"Certainly, for us, in this century the changing India-US relationship has really been a very defining development. So, I welcome the chance today to sit with you and look at our relationship and see how we can continue to take it forward in its positive trajectory, " he added.

(Image: AP)