As part of the US’s two-pronged plan to isolate Russia, the US National Security Adviser (NSA) Jake Sullivan met with Ajit Doval here on Wednesday. This was part of the plan to improve relations with both India and China as a way to isolate Russia.
The delegation-level talks focused on the plan for India and the US to work together in seven high-tech areas. The two NSAs announced the plan on Tuesday. They include electronics, next-generation telecommunications, artificial intelligence, and defense.
Sullivan’s two days of hard work happen at the same time that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken talks on the phone with his Chinese colleague, Qin Gang. The call was made before Blinken went to Beijing to “talk about how important it is to keep lines of communication open in order to manage the US-China relationship in a responsible way.” A State Department readout said, “He will also bring up bilateral issues of concern, global and regional issues, and possible ways to work together on shared transnational challenges.”
While Blinken is trying to fix things with China, Sullivan is on a two-day visit to India. He promises to improve relations between the US and India by giving India cutting-edge technology, many of which can be used for both military and domestic purposes. Sullivan’s talks with Doval and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar come before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to the US, which is coming up in less than a week.
Sullivan has also met with Jaishankar to talk about plans for the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US. After their meeting, Jaishankar tweeted, “Our talk was mostly about getting ready for the PM’s planned trip to the US. Also talked about world strategic changes in the context of our partnership.”
A day ago, Sullivan met with PM Modi and talked about ways that the two countries could work together. PM Modi wrote after the meeting, “Glad to meet US NSA. The India-US Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) and other areas of bilateral partnership were looked at. I’m looking forward to meeting Joe Biden when I go to the US on a state visit.”
