Blinken meets Jaishankar, says India, US working on regional, global challenges

The US and India are working together to address regional and global challenges, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after a meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Washington DC on Tuesday (October 1).

Jaishankar, on his first visit to the US capital since the third Narendra Modi government took office, met Blinken at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the US State Department.

“Together, the US and India are working to address regional and global challenges. External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and I met to discuss our continued cooperation on the climate crisis and ways we can promote regional security and prosperity,” Blinken said after the meeting.

Deepening bilateral ties

Jaishankar said, “Delighted to hold talks with Blinken in Washington DC. We followed up on the Delaware bilateral and the QUAD meetings. Our discussions also covered deepening bilateral cooperation, the situation in West Asia, recent developments in the Indian subcontinent, the Indo-Pacific and Ukraine.”

The minister was referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden. The US president hosted Modi at his Delaware residence for a bilateral meeting on September 21. They were later joined by leaders from Australia and Japan for the QUAD Leaders’ Summit in Wilmington, Delaware.

According to US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, Jaishankar and Blinken “discussed the United States and India’s enduring commitment to deepening bilateral ties, coordinating closely on regional and global challenges, and advancing cooperation on critical and emerging technologies”.

“Blinken noted Prime Minister Modi’s August visit to Kyiv and reiterated the importance of a just and lasting peace for Ukraine,” he said, adding that plans to expand collaboration on clean energy initiatives to address the global climate crisis were also discussed.

Working together to better lives of our people: Blinken

Welcoming Jaishankar earlier, Blinken said the warmth of Biden and Modi’s recent meeting and the ambition in the relationship were at a level never seen before.

“I think it’s a reflection of the value that both countries attach to this partnership — a partnership in so many different areas, including strategic technology sectors, space, semiconductors, clean energy, where our countries increasingly are working together and creating new opportunities for people in both India and the United States but also, more broadly than that, around the world. Of course, the critical role that India plays on the global stage, working for peace, stability, security — here as well, we are doing more and more together,” he said.

“So, coming off the UN General Assembly, coming off the meetings that we had with the QUAD and bilaterally, this is a good opportunity for us to take stock of the many issues that we are working together on — working together in a way that betters the lives of our own people and I think makes a positive contribution to the world,” Blinken added.

Don’t feel bad when I comment on your comment: Jaishankar

Earlier in the day, Jaishankar took part in a discussion at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a top American think tank.

“If you look at State-to-State, government-to-government level, we think it’s important that democracies are mutually respectful. It cannot be that one democracy has a right to comment on another and that’s part about promoting democracy globally, but when others do that, then it becomes foreign interference,” Jaishankar said in response to a question.

“Foreign interference is foreign interference irrespective of who does it and where it is not. So, it’s a testy area and my personal view, which I have shared with many, you have every right to comment, but I have every right to comment on your comment. So don’t feel bad when I do this,” Jaishankar said.

Part of competition among countries, political forces: EAM

Jaishankar said the world is very globalised and as a result, the politics of any country doesn’t necessarily stay within the national boundaries of the country. “Now the United States of course makes a special effort to ensure it doesn’t. That’s part of how you have conducted your foreign policy over many years. Now as in a globalised era where there are also globalised global agendas, there are players who like to shape not only the politics of their own country or their own region... And social media, economic forces, financial flows, all these give you opportunities to do that. How do you shape the narrative? So, you have a whole industry,” he observed.

“What happens with that reality is it is part of the overall competition, a competition among countries and competition among political forces. When it is a competition, you expect others to do what they will and it's your right to do what you will. And that's playing out in a way,” Jaishankar said.

He said later of his meeting with Blinken, “Let me begin by thanking you for a great meeting between the prime minister and the president in Delaware, for a very, very good QUAD meeting. I think it gave us an opportunity to take stock of the many areas where that mechanism has progressed. I think, on the bilateral side, there is a lot that we have done since our last meeting but there are global issues to discuss, including some of the events you mentioned today.”

(With agency inputs)