US President Barack Obama announced US$10 billion in business deals yesterday as he arrived in India to boost US exports and jobs after a mauling in midterm polls, but he ran into immediate controversy over Pakistan.
Obama flew into Mumbai, India’s financial hub, and announced the US would also relax export controls over sensitive technology, a demand by India that would help deepen US ties with the emerging global power.
While most of the announced deals had been pending for months, Obama’s visit, the first leg of a 10-day Asian tour, has been hailed as moving the US closer to India as Washington tries to revive a weak economy and gather support to pressure China on its currency.
“The United States sees Asia, especially India, as the market of the future,” Obama told a meeting of US and Indian business leaders. “There still exists a caricature of India as a land of call centers and back-offices that cost American jobs. But these old stereotypes, these old concerns, ignore today’s realities.”
Obama’s first act was to pay tribute to victims of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, but he was criticized for making no reference to India’s traditional foe Pakistan, which New Delhi blames for harboring anti-India militants.
Pakistan-based militants killed 166 people in a 60-hour rampage through India’s financial hub, gunning down their victims at luxury hotels, a train station and a Jewish center. India said elements in Pakistan were behind the attacks.
“We visit here to send a very clear message,” Obama said after meeting victims’ families at the luxury sea-front Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, the iconic landmark where TV images showing it in flames after battles between militants and commandos came to symbolize the massacre.
“In our determination to give our people a future of security and prosperity, the United States and India stand united,” Obama said.
Yesterday’s Taj speech highlighted the diplomatic test for Obama. Indians wanted a strong statement against Pakistan for fostering militants, but Washington must tread a fine line between appeasing New Delhi and supporting US regional ally Islamabad.
TV stations were abuzz with most Indian commentators surprised at the softness of Obama’s Taj speech.
“This was a guarded statement,” strategic analyst Mahroof Raza told the Times Now news channel. “No mention of Pakistan conveys that Pakistan is key to their [Washington’s] Afghan policy ... and, therefore, Pakistan will not be brought to book.”
However, Obama’s trip is also about business, with China now ahead of the US in trade with India. The US$10 billion in deals will support 54,000 jobs in the US, White House aide Michael Froman said.
The White House also announced Obama would support India’s membership in four global nonproliferation organizations, a move that will reassure New Delhi — left out of these groups after its 1998 nuclear tests — that Washington is recognizing its global clout.
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