PM discusses China: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden during their meeting at the Oval Office last month spent a “plurality” of time discussing China and their experiences with Xi Jinping, according to a senior administration official familiar with the discussion.

“In the Oval Office meeting between Modi and Biden, a plurality of that time was just spent talking about China…and the experiences they’ve had with Xi, both knowing him for a long time trying really hard to have a relationship with him, and just both essentially giving up on,” said the senior administration official who spoke on conditions of anonymity.

The official said that China was a major topic of discussion.

“In reality… it (China) is not the glue of our relationship at all, but it’s one of the factors and I think we’re gonna have that glue for a long time to come,” the official said.

PM Modi had met Joe Biden for all three days between June 21 and June 23 during his first state visit to the US.

On June 22, when Biden welcomed PM Modi at the White House in the morning and the State Dinner later in the evening, the US President and the Indian Prime Minister spent time together for over eight hours.

China poses threat to national security

According to the official, both the ally countries – India and the US – think that China poses a major threat to their national security and noted that the Biden administration thinks New Delhi has been ahead of Washington in terms of handling Beijing.

Citing Dalai Lama’s meeting with the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Uzra Zeya in New Delhi, the official said that “the Chinese kind of went nuts about that”, the official noted.

“They (Indians are) in some ways were ahead of us. It is much more existential for them in terms of countering the China threat. Whether it’s banning TikTok, whether it was building up mobile networks with no Chinese equipment, they’ve actually shown a way forward of what de-risking looks like. And that’s why I think they’re so critical,” the official said.

“At the same time, they still depend on a lot of Chinese things, just like we do. China has been a real irritant in G-20 for them. Russia too…,” the official added.

India-US partnership

The official noted that India and the US share the strongest relationship now than ever before, and said that post the visit of PM Modi, it has never been deeper in the memory of the president.

In India, “Modi’s popularity is about 80 per cent in some polls, so is America’s. America is as popular as Modi is in India. It’s a place where there’s an immense reservoir of goodwill towards Americans, towards America and a desire to get even closer,” the official said.

“That’s not just reflected at the very top which is where we usually write about or hear about. It’s, I think, underneath that at the government-to-government level business-to-business level. And then people to people,” the official added.

The official cited China’s pace in raising people out of poverty 15 years ago and said that India today is doing it faster than what China did.

“It’s one of those moments where, if you rewind the clock, China 15 years ago was raising people at this pace out of poverty into the middle class. India is actually doing it a little faster than China was 15 or 20 years ago. You just look at the metrics, whether it’s the number one source of student visas now, India surpassed China last year, whether it’s the investment, which is a record level, and we’re the number one trading partner for India for the first time. And another number of other metrics,” the official said.

“This is the most significant country in many ways for them and becoming one of the most. The president said one of the most consequential relationships we have. Privately he’s expressed … that this is the most important relationship that we have, at least in terms of growth and, and the future,” the official added.

(With PTI inputs)

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