US President Joe Biden on Monday signaled to India’s Prime Minister that he was looking forward to seeing him in Japan during the Quad leaders meeting on 24th May. This was one of the key highlights of his opening remarks for the Monday virtual session between the US president and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reports pocket option broker.
“It is always good to see you. I am looking forward to seeing you in Japan on May 24,” the US President said.
This comes at a time when there are perceived tensions between the two countries driven by the Ukraine-Russia conflict. India and the US have had divergent views regarding this battle since it began back in February. India abstained from all United Nations votes involving Russia. While the government has spoken strongly against the fighting, it has never criticized Russia directly. At one point president Biden’s top adviser, Brian Deese pointed out that India should be careful of its stance when it comes to the war, and avoid an “explicit alignment” with Moscow. He added that this would not pass without what he termed as “significant long-term consequences.” These threats didn’t seem to bother India as it went ahead and once again abstained from another UN vote aimed at suspending Moscow from the Human Rights Council of the UN.
India has continued to do business with Moscow and has even tried to find possible ways of bypassing the banking restrictions confronting Russia in an attempt to benefit from discounted oil prices. It might be tough for India to cut relations with Russia considering their long-lasting relationship and the fact that Delhi buys more than 50% of its defense supply from Russia. The US finds itself in what experts describe as a “catch-22-situation.” It wants a good relationship with India as it tries to convince the Asian country to be part of the larger strategy of sanctioning Russia, yet at the same time, Washington wouldn’t want to see India becoming weak against China. The US has avoided criticizing India, and only issued mild warnings against strong relations with Russia. India’s main concern is economic recovery and will do anything to see that business is coming back to life after two years of Covid 19, even as the virus continues to spread strongly in neighboring China.
Japan is set to host the Quad leaders’ summit whose main agenda will be to enhance regional cooperation within member countries. Quad comprises 4 countries, India, the US, Japan, and Australia. Global leaders are looking forward to this meeting which many believe can solve numerous global challenges. The Prime minister of India holds a similar opinion.
He continued “I completely agree with you. As the world’s two major and oldest egalitarianisms, we are natural partners.”
The Monday meeting relaxed tension between these two countries and set a proper stage for further discussion on the 24th of May, 2022. Modi added, “And the progress that has been made in our relations over the last few years, the new drive that has been created, perhaps it was something difficult to imagine, even a decade ago from today.”
Quad’s first-ever summit was held virtually in May 2021, followed by a physical meeting in Washington towards the end of the year, which Prime Minister Mode didn’t fail to attend. The main focus of member states has been the production of vaccines, start-ups support, business funding, education and technology. However, with the current global situation, it is likely that this years’ conference won’t ignore the Ukraine-Russia situation.
