The US had aimed to use tensions between India and Pakistan as well as its own Asia Pivot as a backdrop to increased security cooperation with New Delhi [Xinhua]A week after the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Washington has gone back on its promise to grant India special status as “strategic partner”.
The US Senate has failed to recognise India as a “global strategic and defence partner” after a key amendment necessary to modify its export control regulations could not be passed on Wednesday.
In a joint statement last week, the United States said it would now recognize India as a “Major Defense Partner” and would work on technology sharing “to a level commensurate with that of its closest allies and partners.”
A day after Indian Prime Minister Modi’s recent address to a joint session of the US Congress, top Republican senator John McCain had moved an amendment to the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA-17) which if passed would have recognised India as a global strategic and defence partner.
NDAA was passed by the Senate with an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 85-13. But some of the key amendments including the (SA 4618) even though they had bipartisan support could not be passed by the Senate.
“The (Senate) amendment (No 4618) was not adopted to the NDAA,” a Congressional aide told Indian news agency PTI.
The US had aimed to use tensions between India and Pakistan as well as its own Asia Pivot as a backdrop to increased security cooperation with New Delhi.
As China and the US face off in the South China Sea, Washington is keen to enlist Indian support.
However, New Delhi had ensured that the US-India joint statement issued after Modi-Obama talks does not mention the much hyped South China Sea dispute. The document instead refers to “settlement of territorial disputes by peaceful means”.
“The leaders reiterated the importance they attach to ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight and exploitation of resources as per international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and settlement of territorial disputes by peaceful means,” said the Indo-US joint statement.
The US has not signed the UN treaty, the UNCLOS.
Last week, President Barack Obama welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the White House for their seventh meeting since Modi took office in 2014.
The two countries also welcomed preparations that could lead to the building of six nuclear reactors in India by US-based Westinghouse, in what would be the culmination of some 10 years of work to resolve civil-nuclear issues.
After landing in Delhi from his US trip, Modi took stock of ties with Moscow in a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday.
Modi initiated the phone call, the Kremlin press service said.
Modi will host Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in October during the 8th BRICS Summit in the western Indian state of Goa.
TBP and Agencies
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