Nov. 25 – U.S. President Barack Obama greeted Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with a Namaste at the administration’s first state dinner in Washington last night.
In a star studded occasion, the Indian media have reported the event as a complete success and one designed to erase fears that Obama had downgraded ties with New Delhi in deference to Beijing.
Calling India and “rising and responsible global power,” Mr. Obama ran through an exhaustive and expansive agenda between the two countries. Lavishing praise on Singh, standing next to him at the White House press interview, the president said India would play a “pivotal role” in meeting future challenges in the world, and U.S.-India ties will be the “defining partnership of the 21st century.” It was an expression he used more than once.
“The United States welcomes and encourages India’s leadership role in helping to shape the rise of a stable, peaceful, and prosperous Asia,” Mr. Obama said. The president was respectful and graceful towards his more elderly guest, whom he described as “wise” and a man of honesty and integrity.
The signals that the meeting sent, particularly in view of the somewhat wooden and ultra-managed meetings the president had in Beijing two weeks ago created significant contrast in the relationships the United States has with both China and India, and demonstrate the entirely different dynamics. U.S. ideals, especially towards democracy and human rights are more aligned with India, while these concepts remain largely foreign to Beijing. Discussions also took place concerning Pakistan, China, the Dalai Lama, and India’s nuclear energy program in addition to expanding bilateral trade.
Singh, commenting on China, indicated that India was on the same page as the rest of the world on China, wanting to prepare for its peaceful rise as a major power. “So, engagement is the right strategy for India as well as for United States. We ourselves have tried very hard to engage China in the last five years and today China is one of our major trading partners,” he said.
However, unusually for Singh, he was then somewhat critical of China’s recent growth, saying while there is no doubt that Chinese performance is superior to India’s, ”there are other values which are important than the growth of gross domestic product. I think the respect for fundamental human rights, the respect for the rule of law, respect for multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious rights, I think those have values. So, even the Indian perforce with regard to the GDP might not be as good as the Chinese, certainly I would not like to choose the Chinese path.”
These are possibly the strongest comments yet made by Singh towards China and are certain to have been picked up by the Obama administration as the United States seeks to balance China’s regional growth with the support of increased trade relations with India. The point made has been that while China may flex economic muscle, India has the human value moral high ground. How much America continues to value democratic concepts ahead of trade with its major trading partners will be a fascinating development to watch.
President Obama said he plans to visit India next year.
