India, US signal thaw as EAM Jaishankar, Marco Rubio meet

INdia and the US on sun moved to go under apart the rancour and tense that characterised bilaterally symmetric relations over the past year, with external affairs minister S Jaishankar and US secretary of state Marco Rubio discussing ways to deepen cooperation in defence, energy, technology, critical minerals, while also addressing the fallout from the conflict in West Asia.The two leaders held talks at Hyderabad House, a day after Rubio arrived in India for a four-day visit that will also see him participating in a Quad foreign ministers’ meeting on May 26 that is expected to focus on the Indo-Pacific. India strongly raised disruptions to energy supplies caused by the US-Israel war with Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, people familiar with the matter said.The two sides reviewed collaboration under their comprehensive global strategic partnership, covering trade, energy, defence and security, critical minerals, AI, nuclear energy, counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics cooperation, and people-to-people ties, Jaishankar said.Also Read | India, US discuss defence, energy cooperation amid West Asia conflictAt a joint news conference, Jaishankar emphasised five points guiding New Delhi’s position at the talks: India advocates dialogue and diplomacy to resolve conflicts, it supports safe and unimpeded maritime commerce, it demands “scrupulous respect for international law”, it is opposed to the “weaponisation of market shares and resources”, and it believes in trusted partnerships and resilient supply chains to de-risk the global economy.Rubio, on his first visit to India as secretary of state, described India as “one of our most important strategic partners” and a “leading trade partner” and sought to dispel the impression that bilateral relations had lost momentum over the past year. “I think the relationship continues to be strong and in fact, I believe by the end of this administration, it will be stronger than it’s ever been,” he said.The two sides held frank discussions on trade, US immigration policies and energy supply disruptions caused by the West Asia conflict, which was triggered by the US and Israel’s attacks on Iran in February, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity. The issue of energy supply disruptions because of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz figured in Rubio’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday and his talks with Jaishankar on Sunday.The closure of the Strait of Hormuz had removed 20% of energy supplies from the global market and cut off India’s access to almost half of its crude supplies and several key suppliers of cooking gas, the Indian side said at these meetings while backing diplomatic efforts to end the West Asia conflict.Also Read | 'Not targeted at India': Marco Rubio clears the air on green card, H-1B, student visa policy changesJaishankar said India is one of the very few countries that has strong relations with all the parties involved in the West Asia conflict, including the US, Israel and Iran, and with “real interests” in the region. “For us, the challenge in this situation is how to maintain all these relationships, how to protect our equities, how to advance our interests, and we don’t look at it as a zero sum game,” he said.“Obviously, we want peace and stability in the region. Two, for us, the welfare, the well-being of the diaspora is crucial. Three, we want to see energy prices go down because we are a very big importer of energy and much of it comes from that region,” he said, referring to the 10 million Indians living in West Asia.India is also in favour of safe and unimpeded maritime commerce through West Asia and wants to see the markets open up there, Jaishankar said while outlining New Delhi’s approach. Rubio added that the US and India share the “strategic value” that no international waterway should be nationalized by any country.Rubio insisted that the Trump administration’s focus is on ensuring that Iran “can never possess a nuclear weapon” and opening the Strait of Hormuz, which is an international waterway that Tehran does not own. “The President has been clear about that. [Iran] will never possess a nuclear weapon, certainly not as long as Donald Trump is President of the US,” he said.He referred to progress in negotiations between the US and Iran mediated by Pakistan and said “some significant progress” had been made over the past 48 hours “on an outline that could ultimately, if it succeeds, leave us not just with a completely open Strait…without tolls, and with addressing some of the things that underpin what has been Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions”.“Obviously, that will require full Iranian acceptance and then compliance, and it will require some future work on negotiating the details,” Rubio said. “I do think there’s some good news on that front, but not final news on that front.”Rubio side-stepped a question from HT about India’s concerns over the US administration’s renewed engagement with Pakistan’s military leadership and said: “As far as our relations with other countries – we have relations and we work at the tactical level, for example, and in many other ways with countries all over the world. So does India. That’s what responsible nation states do.“But I don’t view our relation with any country in the world as coming at the expense of our strategic alliance with India.”Rubio said there is a “strong counter-terrorism alignment” between India and the US because both countries have suffered, directly and indirectly, due to global terrorist networks. Jaishankar acknowledged the extradition from the US of Tahawwur Rana, a key planner of the 2008 Mumbai attacks and said the two sides will intensify cooperation bilaterally and at international forums against terrorism.Looking ahead to Tuesday’s Quad meeting, Jaishankar said it is important for cooperation between the four maritime democracies to continue because they are market economies and open societies that want business to be conducted on the basis of international law and market practices. “So for us, particularly in the Indo-Pacific, I see the Quad gaining importance in the coming days,” he said.