(Washington) Pasta and ice cream to start, the pomp of a state visit to continue: Joe Biden rolls out the red carpet for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even if it means muting the question of human rights and India’s attitude towards Russia.
The American president, anxious to close ranks with India against China, received his guest with his wife Jill Biden on Wednesday evening around his favorite menu – therefore based on pasta and ice cream.
A meeting intended to be unfussy – even if the national security advisers of the two countries participated – in prelude to the sumptuous program of Thursday, with military honors, speech in front of the American Congress and gala dinner whose menu, more sophisticated, will be primarily vegetarian, as Narendra Modi is.
It is also expected, a rare thing for the Indian leader, that the two men answer questions from the press.
“This bilateral relationship, which we believe will be one of the most important for the future of the world, has enormous potential,” assured Tuesday a spokesman for the American executive, John Kirby.
This is well worth a formal acrobatics. Only heads of state, and not of government, are in theory entitled to a “state visit”: Joe Biden had organized one for the Frenchman Emmanuel Macron and for the president of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol.
For Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of the most populous country in the world, the White House therefore speaks of an “official state visit”, an unpublished title.
John Kirby promised a “substantial” list of announcements, listing a series of areas of cooperation, from technology to energy transition and semiconductors.
The two leaders are especially expected on defense, at a time when the United States is maneuvering to contain China, while India is worried about the ambitions of its big neighbor.
Fighter
According to diplomats, Joe Biden and Narendra Modi should announce that the American General Electric will supply the engines of the first fighter planes manufactured by India, a completely new contract.
This responds to the concern of the Indian Prime Minister to develop national industry, and to Joe Biden’s desire to strengthen ties with a country which has long supplied arms from Russia.
“India still presents itself as a non-aligned country”, refusing to join NATO-type military alliances, recalls Richard Rossow, analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
But faced with China, New Delhi is ready to “engage in a much deeper level of defense cooperation” with the United States, believes the expert.
“It is not a question of sending a message to China” with this state visit, however assured John Kirby, according to whom Washington intends to encourage the will of India to play a greater international role.
Narendra Modi “has promised to make India respected on the international scene” and “he should certainly highlight this visit to Washington in his campaign” before the elections scheduled for 2024, underlines Tanvi Madan, expert from the Brookings research center.
human rights
As with any state visit, Joe Biden’s goal will be to publicly erase differences in favor of warm toasts and flattering photographs.
Even if it means being discreet about concerns on two subjects: human rights and the relationship between India and Russia.
Associations have criticized the sumptuous reception of the Hindu nationalist prime minister, according to them responsible for persecutions against Muslims in Kashmir and pressure against the political opposition as well as the press.
The American president “has a habit of raising the issues that concern us” with his guests and “human rights are an issue that concerns us”, only declared John Kirby.
With regard to Russia, the spokesman repeated several times that India was a “sovereign” nation.
He assured that the Americans were “appreciative” of the humanitarian aid provided by India to Ukraine, that they had “noted” the concern expressed by Narendra Modi vis-à-vis the conflict and that they ” hoped” that the country would continue to respect a price cap set by the West for its purchases of Russian oil.
On Russia, India and the United States “have decided to accept or tolerate their differences”, analyzes Tanvi Madan.