External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: No matter whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris wins the mandate to take over the Oval Office at the White House in Washington DC, India’s relations with the United States will only grow, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said.
A few hours before the polling commenced across the US to elect the next occupant of the White House, Jaishankar pointed out that New Delhi’s relations with Washington DC steadily progressed during the tenures of Joe Biden and his four predecessors, as the American Presidents, including that of Donald Trump.
“You know, we have actually seen steady progress in our relationship with the US over the last five presidencies. Including an earlier Trump presidency,” Jaishankar said in Canberra on Tuesday while joining Foreign Minister Penny Wong of Australia in a joint news conference. “So, when we look at the American election, you know we are very confident that whatever the verdict our relationship with the United States will only grow,” said the external affairs minister. He and the foreign minister of Australia were replying to questions from a journalist about the US presidential elections.
Jaishankar and Wong discussed the Quad – a four-nation alliance, comprising India, Australia, Japan and the US.
The Quad was conceived in 2007 and revived in 2017 to counter the hegemonic aspirations of China. New Delhi in the past resisted the US pressure to turn the Quad into a NATO-like security alliance for the Indo-Pacific and rather insisted on pursuing a benign agenda to counter China’s bid to spread its military, political, and economic influence in the Indo-Pacific.
The journalist asked Wong and Jaishankar if the Quad would survive in the event of Trump beating Harris in the US presidential elections.
“I remind you that actually the Quad was revived under a Trump presidency in 2017. It was then moved from the level of a permanent secretary to a minister, also, during the Trump presidency,” said Jaishankar. “And, in fact, it's interesting, in the midst of COVID, when pretty much physical meetings had stopped one of the rare physical meetings of foreign ministers was actually of the Quad in Tokyo in 2020. So, I think that should tell us something about the prospects of that," he added.
Trump’s successor Joe Biden in 2021 elevated the Quad to the level of the leaders of the leaders of India, Japan, Australia, and the US.
“We both see the great importance of the Quad. It is an arrangement, a meeting, a grouping with countries that share very similar interests in the sort of region we want and having countries from different perspectives, so obviously the US, India, Australia, Japan, it's a very valuable strategic discussion,” Wong said, adding: “We would see that is retaining its importance regardless of the outcome of the election.”