‘Natural for US to be closer to India’

It is natural for the US to share closer ties with India than China because it is able to better sync its strategies, vision and goals with a democracy like India, senior US administration officials have said. The statement comes days before Barack Obama’s visit to the country.

India and the US have been having “regular dialogue” on east Asian issues’ for a year.

Obama administration officials, who were explaining the priorities of the president’s first visit to India in a media interaction in Washington, did not deny media suggestions that the US was trying to ‘cultivate’ India as a counterweight to a rising China. The officials also did not reject the idea that the US is in talks with India to install a “missile defence system” — an array of US missiles — on Indian soil.

Ben Rhodes, deputy national security advisor in the administration, said the United States has strategic interests in the Indian Ocean, the Pacific, South Asia and Central Asia — all areas surrounding China. To firmly establish itself in these areas, Rhodes said a “deeper engagement” with India is a must. Rhodes said that it is not coincidence that Obama has restricted his itinerary to only democratic countries in Asia.

“We’re sending a very clear message. The US sees itself as an Asian power and a Pacific power and intends to significantly increase and deepen our engagement in the region. And again, India is fundamental to that effort,” Rhodes said, speaking to reporters in Washington.

The official, however, refused to say whether the US would support India’s bid for a permanent Security Council seat. “It’s a very complicated issue that involves international architecture in many countries,” Rhodes said.
He also dismissed a suggestion that the president might help India and Pakistan sort out the Kashmir dispute.