US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton began a three-day visit to India yesterday by urging India not to repeat US mistakes in contributing to global pollution and passionately defending US demands for help in fighting terrorism.
“We acknowledge now with President [Barack] Obama that we have made mistakes in the United States, and we along with other developed countries have contributed most significantly to the problem that we face with climate change,” she said. “We are hoping a great country like India will not make the same mistakes.”
She was referring to Obama’s statement in Italy earlier this month that the US had “sometimes fallen short” of its responsibilities in controlling its carbon emissions.
PHOTO: AFP
Speaking at a news conference on the pool-side patio of the Taj Mahal Palace & Hotel, which was strewn with bodies after terrorists attacked the coastal city of Mumbai in November, she cast India and the US as allies in the fight against terrorism.
“Yesterday’s bombings in Jakarta, Indonesia, provide a painful reminder that the threat of such violent extremism is still very real. It is global. It is ruthless. It is nihilistic and it must be stopped,” she said.
“We have a great sense of solidarity and sympathy, having gone through what we did on 9/11,” she said.
Her voice rising, Clinton insisted that the US demand for international action against terrorism should not be taken lightly.
“We know how important [it is]. We are fighting wars to end the threat of terrorism against us, our friends and allies around the world,” Clinton said. She said India could choose its own way of contributing but must be part of a broader effort to defeat the threat.
“We expect everyone” who shares the US goal of a more stable world “to take strong action to prevent terrorism from taking root on their soil and making sure that terrorists are not trained and deployed” from their territory to carry out attacks elsewhere, she said.
Earlier, Clinton attended a ceremony commemorating the victims of the Mumbai attack, which killed 166 and raised tensions between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan. At the event were five staffers from the Oberoi Hotel and 10 from the Taj, including general manager Karambir Kang, who lost his wife and two children during the three-day siege.
In a memorial book she wrote: “Americans share a solidarity with this city and nation. Both our people have experienced the senseless and searing effects of violent extremism ... Now it is up to all nations and people who seek peace and progress to work together. Let us rid the world of hatred and extremism that produces such nihilistic violence.”
She also met 11 Indian business leaders, including Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, the largest privately held company in India.
Echoing remarks made by Ambani at the meeting, Clinton said India should leapfrog the developed world to come up with its own innovative ways to encourage environmentally friendly growth.
“Just as India went from a few years ago having very few mobile phones to now having more than 500 million mostly cellphones by leapfrogging over the infrastructure we built for telephone service, we believe India is innovative and entrepreneurial enough to figure out how to deal with climate change while continuing to lift people out of poverty and develop at a rapid rate,” she said.
Seeking to assuage Indian concerns that the US pressured India into making concessions to Pakistan despite that nation’s failure to bring to justice the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack, Clinton emphasized that the US respects India’s sovereign right to make its own decisions.
“Discussion between India and Pakistan is between India and Pakistan,” she said.
The visit marked a return to the world stage for Clinton, who has been slowed since the middle of last month by an arm injury that forced her to cancel plans to attend international meetings in Italy and Greece last month and to accompany Obama on his visit to Russia earlier this month.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of