The Indian prime minister visiting the White House today is a mild-mannered technocrat who has burst out of political obscurity to carry forward an economic and diplomatic revolution in the world's biggest democracy.
Now Manmohan Singh is looking to complete the post-Cold War, post-9/11 repositioning of his country by entering into a strategic partnership with the US.
"This is a watershed year in US-India relations," Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca is quoted as saying in a US Embassy report, published ahead of Singh's visit.
Singh's aides paint a sweeping canvas of issues for him and US President George W. Bush to discuss: the economics that are binding the US and India ever closer together; cooperation in generating nuclear power for the voracious needs of a nation of over 1 billion; collaboration in space research including joint launch of satellites and an Indian mission to moon; India's bid for permanent membership of the UN Security Council; waging the war on terrorism.
Then there are weapons deals, intelligence-sharing, cyber-security, collaboration in biotechnology and nanotechnology, "and what the two countries can offer as democracies to the rest of the world," said Sanjaya Baru, Singh's media adviser.
"We have been talking, and working, about a strategic partnership. Now is the time to make it happen," he said.
Singh will spend 90 minutes with Bush, then meet Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and be Bush's guest at a banquet and jazz concert.
Tomorrow, he will address a joint session of the US Congress, giving US lawmakers an opportunity to learn more about a leader who is little known in Western public at large since becoming prime minister 14 months ago.
Singh, the first Sikh to become India's prime minister, was a surprise candidate, but already familiar to business leaders who admire him for setting off India's transformation into a market economy in the early 1990s when he was finance minister.
It was the economics professor's first political job and it lasted five years, until his Congress party lost power in 1996. He then kept a low profile until last year, when a tumultuous election toppled Vajpayee and returned Congress to office.
To many, Singh is a gentleman politician who looks out of place in the sharp-edged world of Indian politics. He is a dour leader by Indian standards, but has impeccable credentials as an efficient and clean administrator. He has few enemies in politics, and his first year in office has seen few scandals or religious riots.
Singh's ascent has come at a time when India's world view -- and the way the world views India -- is undergoing a seismic shift.
India now sees itself as an emerging world power. Washington sees New Delhi as a potential ally to counter China and its growing political and military influence in the Indian Ocean rim. Its booming software sector is now the back-office hub of US multinationals. International agencies forecast the Indian economy -- one of the world' fastest growing in the past decade -- will get into the top five by mid-century at the latest.
A report issued this week by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and written by Ashley Tellis, a leading US expert on Asia, is titled India as a New Global Power.
It urges Washington to support India's bid for a permanent seat in an expanded Security Council, recognize it as a nuclear-weapon state instead of nagging New Delhi to sign the nonproliferation treaty, and enter into a "comprehensive defense partnership."
Washington should help India to build nuclear power plants to bridge its widening energy deficit and stop complaining about its attempts to build a pipeline to bring gas from Iran, it says.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
RSS