India has 'concerns' over Russia-China links, says White House post India-US 2+2 dialogue

India has “concerns” over Russia-China links and is facing a “very tense” citation with Beijing along the Line of Actual Control, said a senior White House official in a background press call following the India-US 2+2 ministerial dialogue. External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar and Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh travelled to the US for a two-day visit to participate in “two-plus-two” ministerial-level talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin. 

Following the talks, when the senior White House official was asked about what would be India’s satisfactory condemnation of Russia from the perspective of US President Joe Biden’s administration, the official replied, “ What I’ll say is that Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi took the opportunity to share his views in a pretty candid way about what’s going on.”

“We know that India has concerns about the links between Russia and China.  India, of course, is facing a very tense situation along the Line of Actual Control.  And when India sees the tight links between China and Russia, that’s obviously going to impact their thinking,” the White House official said.

“Whether there was — there was no sort of concrete ask and concrete answer, but the leaders were able to step back and have a pretty detailed and candid exchange of views,” they added.

Blinken says India has to 'make own decisions' on Russia-Ukraine war

However, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday said that India has to “make its own decisions” about how it approaches the Russia-Ukraine war. Following the 2+2 ministerial dialogue between Blinken, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, US Secretary of State averred that Washington would continue to call on nations to support Kyiv as the war with Moscow continues to escalate in the second month. He said the US would urge nations to back Ukraine “just as we call on all nations to condemn Moscow's increasingly brutal actions.”

It is to note here that 2+2 ministerial dialogue between India and the United States came when the Russia-Ukraine war has already entered day 47. While most of the western countries have moved to decrease dependency on Russian energy imports, India has continued to purchase Russian oil. India has also abstained from voting on resolutions against Russia in the United Nations (UN) sessions. Most recently, just last week, India abstained in a vote to remove Russia from the UN Human Rights Council.

With the US in staunch opposition to Russia’s military actions, Blinken noted India’s stance and said, that “India has to make its own decisions about how it approaches” the Russian war in Ukraine and that the US believes “it is important that all countries, especially those with leverage, press Putin to end the war.”

“We, as a general proposition, are consulting with all of our allies and partners on the consequences of Putin’s war, the atrocities being committed against the people of Ukraine,” Blinken said at the news conference following the US-India 2+2 Ministerial.

Image: AP