The Indian Prime Minister is all geared up to visit Washington, on Thursday 22nd June 2024. The official visit will include a South Lawn Welcome, a state dinner and an address to a joint session of congress. Modi will be designated as the third World leader, after France’s Emmanuel Macron and South Korea’s Yoon Suk Yeol to receive such an honorary invite.
Modi has made many appearances in The U.S. but this visit will be placed under the highest category of diplomatic mission and protocol. The key purpose of the tour is to deplete China from being one of the most emerging economies. As India is the highly populated countries and booming in terms of economy, thus the U.S. hopes that India can dethrone and counter China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
The Main Focus Of The Visit
The official Visit will focus on strengthening the already-growing defense and manufacturing ties between India and The U.S. Both the countries are also in verbal discussions over jointly producing jet engines, long range artillery and military vehicles.
In May, India became a participant in Biden’s 14-member Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, which chiefly intends to diminish China’s economic control in manufacturing, but without formulating a formal trade agreement. Recently, American Organization are co-producing military jets in their own country and has boosted its investment in semiconductor and chip manufacturing ecosystem set in India as a form to reduce it’s interdependence over China.
According to the Reuters report, India is also considering to buy two dozens of U.S. made armed drones worth $2billion and $3billion to support initiatives aimed at fortifying border surveillance and enhancing counterterrorism intelligence operations.
The deal will facilitate India’s economy as the agreement will allow The U.S. innovators to elevate India’s role in driving growth and expansion. The meeting will assist both countries to counter China, and for the U.S. China is its NO.1 competitor thus they are forging allies with India to counter China.
While for India the conflicts with China over territories in the Himalayas and Arunachal Pradesh, are the key motives for backing the U.S. to combat one of the strongest countries in Asia.
Indo- U.S. Relations
The relationship between India and the United States has changed dramatically since the years. At the advent of Independence, in 1947, India was more closely associated with Russia, while the U.S. was aligned with Pakistan, India’s rival. The relationship between the two countries dwindled till the cold war.
Both countries remained ‘estranged democracy’ as stated by the former U.S. ambassador Dennis Kux, until the year 1991. However, the weakening ties grew stronger from 2000, when Bill Clinton became the President of the United States and till the presidency of Donald Trump the relationship enhanced between India and The U.S.
In 2005, India and the U.S. signed a momentous nuclear agreement, granting de facto recognition to India as a nuclear-armed nation. Last year, both the countries conducted military exercises not far from the Indo-China disputed border.
This diplomatic mission will additionally fortify India’s relations with the U.S. It will aid in offering significant support to India in its confrontations with China and also facilitate India’s growth as an emerging economy in the Indo-Pacific region.
