Modi, massively popular in India, has demonstrated a drift toward authoritarianism that has worried the West. He’s cracked down on dissent, targeted journalists and introduced policies that human rights groups say discriminate against Muslims.
Yet Modi and India, the world’s largest democracy, also represent a lynchpin in Biden’s strategy in Asia. The country recently surpassed China to become the most populous country on Earth. No major global challenge, from climate change to advances in technology, can be addressed without India’s buy-in, in Biden’s view. And in an era of growing tensions between the US and China, there are few partners that Biden is more eager to cultivate.
Indian officials had instead pushed for joint statements after which the two leaders would take no questions. It was only on the eve of Modi’s visit that Indian officials agreed to a compromise: the leaders would hold a “one-and-one,” calling on one reporter from each side rather than the traditional “two-and-two,” during which each leader would call on two reporters from their press corps.
“That’s a long view. That’s a view rooted in our bet on the relationship between the people of the United States of America and the people of India,” Sullivan continued. “Part of what will be lifted up and celebrated in this visit will be those deep people and people ties.”Modi is hardly the first leader with authoritarian tendencies to be invited for a state visit at the White House. President Barack Obama hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2015, shortly after he assumed power in Beijing.
In March, the former leader of India’s main opposition political party, Rahul Gandhi, was disqualified as a lawmaker a day after he was handed a two-year jail sentence for defamation in a ruling his supporters called politically motivated. “You have once again made respect for human rights, press freedom, religious freedom, and pluralism core tenets of American foreign policy. Moreover, these tenets are necessary to the functioning of true democracy. In order to advance these values with credibility on the world stage, we must apply them equally to friend and foe alike, just as we work to apply these same principles here in the United States,” the lawmakers wrote.
“Any time we see challenges with respect to press freedom, religious freedom, infringements on the democracy space, we make our views known,” he said.Thursday’s state visit will include announcements in the technology space as well as defense cooperation, including on defense sales, production and technology collaboration, an administration official said.
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