Responding to a question in a conversation at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Tuesday, Jaishankar stated that India is a “very important” partner of the US when it comes to accelerating investments in a certain set of domains and scaling this up at the global level.
“I do think today, the India-US relationship has to focus very, very strongly on technology. And I say that, because, in many ways, the balance of power in the world has always been a function of the balance of technology, but it is even more intense today. And the impact of technology on our everyday lives is very sweeping,” he said.
Jaishankar’s veiled dig at Canada in UNGA speech: Political convenience shouldn’t determine response to extremism, terror
“You will have other conversations like this, it could be on critical minerals, it could be on maritime security, but the fact is the United States today, needs partners in order to secure its interest. It’s useful for the US to have partners who frankly think well of the US and speak well of the US often behind your back,” he added.
The minister’s comments come a day after he addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York. In a resounding smackdown directed implicitly at the United States and Canada, Jaishankar told the United Nations that “political convenience cannot dictate responses to terrorism, extremism, and violence.”
The strong remarks come in the backdrop of ongoing diplomatic tensions between India and Canada following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations that Indian agents were involved in the killing of a Khalistani terrorist on his country’s soil.
“Urged India to cooperate…” US Department of State’s reaction to India-Canada row
Even though Jaishankar did not directly refer to New Delhi’s spat with Ottawa and its patron US over the killing of a Canadian Sikh extremist, but he left no doubt about who and what he was referring to when he asserted that “respect for territorial integrity and non-interference in internal affairs cannot be exercised in cherry picking.”
Ottawa, primed by Washington, has alleged that New Delhi is behind the transnational assassination; India has rejected the charge and countered that Canada has provided a fertile ground for violent Khalistani extremists.
He will travel to Washington on Wednesday for bilateral meetings with US interlocutors. His program includes inter alia, discussions with his counterpart Antony Blinken, Secretary of State, senior members of the US Administration, US business leaders and think-tanks.