Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday opened a state visit to Washington as the US steps up its wooing of India despite simmering disagreements on Ukraine and human rights.
US President Joe Biden is putting on the full pomp for only the third state visitor of his administration, with India seen as a pivotal partner in a growing global competition with China.
Modi — flying in from New York, where he exerted Indian soft power with a public yoga demonstration — began his visit with a private dinner with Biden at the White House.
Photo: AFP
Modi was yesterday to be welcomed with full military honors at the White House, as well as address a joint session of the US Congress and be feted by a state dinner.
The White House tapped a top California-based plant-based chef for the dinner for Modi, who is a strict vegetarian.
Unusual for a leader who often criticizes the media, the White House said that Modi would take questions alongside Biden.
People following the trip expect a series of significant announcements, including a deal for General Electric to supply engines for India’s first domestically made fighter jets.
The world’s two largest democracies are likely to make announcements on climate, one area where the two countries have long clashed, albeit politely, on the responsibilities of developed versus developing countries.
The US has been seeking a closer relationship with India since the late 1990s, seeing the nation as like-minded on the challenges of China and of radical Islamism.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the visit, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby played down the connection to China — which US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited earlier in the week in a bid to lower the temperature after soaring tensions.
“It’s not about sending a message to China,” Kirby said.
“We are deepening and continuing to improve this partnership with India, which we believe has truly become a force for global good. And we know that India is going to be a strategic partner for decades to come,” he said.
However, India is “showing a growing commitment to being more engaged in the Indo-Pacific,” he added.
It is Modi’s first state visit to Washington, an honor extended to his center-left predecessor former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh by former US president Barack Obama.
However, Biden has already welcomed Modi as part of a summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue — an initiative of four democracies including Japan and Australia that is widely seen as countering China’s influence in Asia.
The Biden administration has vowed a greater focus globally on human rights, but has kept a light touch with Modi, who has faced mounting criticism from human rights groups.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’