Save articles for later

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.

Washington: US President Joe Biden and Narendra Modi hailed a new era in their countries’ relationship after the White House rolled out the red carpet for the Indian prime minister, touting deals on defence and commerce aimed at countering China’s global influence.

“Two great nations, two great friends, and two great powers. Cheers,” Biden told Modi in a toast at a state dinner. Modi said in reply: “You are soft spoken, but when it comes to action, you are very strong.”

Narendra Modi and Joe Biden enjoy a joke during the state dinner at the White House.Credit: AP

Though the countries are not formal treaty-bound allies and India has long relished its independence, Washington wants Delhi to be a strategic counterweight to China. Neither leader criticised China directly in official statements, but they alluded to Xi Jinping’s government.

“The dark clouds of coercion and confrontation are casting their shadow in the Indo-Pacific,” Modi told US Congress. “The stability of the region has become one of the central concerns of our partnership.”

After Biden and Modi spoke privately for more than two hours, a joint statement included a warning of rising tensions and destabilising actions in the East and South China Sea and stressed the importance of international law and freedom of navigation.

“The challenges and opportunities facing the world in this century require that India and the United States work and lead together, and we are,” Biden said as he welcomed Modi to the White House.

James Murdoch arrives with his wife Kathryn Murdoch.Credit: AP

The state dinner, held in a large, elaborately erected tent on the White House South Lawn, featured a number of Silicon Valley executives on the guest list, including Apple’s Tim Cook, 23andMe chief executive Anne Wojcicki, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, among others.

James Murdoch, son of Australian-born media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and James’ wife Kathryn Murdoch were also in attendance.

Modi cracked jokes about his lack of singing ability, the time Biden wanted him to eat even though he was fasting, and how well Indians and Americans were getting along.

Not known for his sense of humour, Modi kept the almost 400 guests in stitches as he toasted Biden and first lady Jill Biden before dinner was served.

“I know your hospitality has moved your guests to sing. I wish, I too, had the singing talent,” Modi joked. “I could have also sang before you all.”

Modi was referring to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who surprised guests when he got up onstage during a White House state dinner honouring him in April and belted out a rendition of American Pie – one of his favourite songs – to raucous applause.

Modi said the dinner would give him a chance to make up for not eating during a banquet that he said Biden hosted for him in 2014. Modi was observing a religious fast at the time.

“I remember you were asking me and asking me again and again what I could eat during my fast. But it was not possible for me to eat anything and you were quite concerned about it,” he said. “Well today, I’m making up for it. All that you desired at that time with so much affection is being fulfilled today.”

Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai and his wife Anjali Pichai arrive for the dinner.Credit: Bloomberg

Biden recalled that two decades ago – when he was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee – he’d said the world would be safer if the US and India “grew to be the closest friends and partners in the world.”

“I believe that even more today now that I’m president,” Biden said.

Despite deep differences over human rights and India’s stance on Russia’s war in Ukraine, Biden extended to Modi the administration’s third invitation for a state visit. It included the state dinner, a high diplomatic honour that the US reserves for its closest allies.

Biden hopes all the pomp and attention lavished on Modi — from the thousands who gathered on the White House lawn to cheer his arrival in the morning to the splashy dinner at the end of the day — will help him firm up relations with the leader of a country the US believes will be a pivotal force in Asia for decades to come.

Modi is seeking to raise the status that India, the world’s most populous country at 1.4 billion and fifth-largest economy, has on the world stage as a manufacturing and diplomatic powerhouse while navigating strained ties with China.

Modi’s participation in a White House press conference was notable in itself, marking one of the first times the Indian leader has taken questions in such a format during his nine-year tenure. He took one question apiece from an American and an Indian journalist selected in advance, and dismissed criticism about India’s human rights record.

“Democracy is our spirit,” Modi said through an interpreter. “Democracy runs in our veins. We live democracy and our ancestors have actually put words to this concept.”

Modi has faced criticism over legislation amending the country’s citizenship law that fast-tracks naturalisation for some migrants but excludes Muslims, a rise in violence against Muslims and other religious minorities by Hindu nationalists, and the recent conviction of India’s top opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, for mocking Modi’s surname.

Asked by an American reporter about what steps he would take to improve the rights of Muslims and other minorities, Modi said “there’s absolutely no space for discrimination” in India.

Biden told reporters he and Modi had a straightforward discussion about democratic values.

Washington has been frustrated by India’s close ties with Russia while Moscow wages war in Ukraine. Modi avoided direct mention of Russia, but told lawmakers the conflict was “causing great pain in the region. Since it involves major powers, the outcomes are severe”.

Modi’s visit was not without controversy. The speech to US Congress, normally a bipartisan affirmation of a visiting leader from an allied nation, was boycotted by some politicians, who cited the Modi government’s treatment of India’s Muslim minority.

“I encourage my colleagues who stand for pluralism, tolerance and freedom of the press to join me in doing the same,” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Wednesday.

As some 7000 well-wishers gathered for a colourful opening ceremony at the White House. A smaller group of demonstrators gathered blocks away to protest the Biden administration’s coziness with Modi, who leads the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and is accused of allowing anti-Muslim riots to occur when he was chief minister of the state of Gujarat in 2002.

The US and Indian governments announced agreements on semiconductors, critical minerals, technology, space cooperation and defence.

Reuters, AP

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.

Most Viewed in World

From our partners

Source: Read Full Article