British Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday arrived in India touting job-creating investment, but facing long odds to get his reluctant counterpart, Narendra Modi, to back Western action against Russia.
Johnson arrived in Gujarat — Modi’s home state and the ancestral home to half of the UK’s British Indians — where he was meeting business leaders and taking a cultural tour of the historic city of Ahmedabad.
He is to leave today for New Delhi to meet Modi, providing him some respite from the “partygate” controversy over his criminal violation of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown rules.
Photo: AP
Johnson likely missed a parliamentary vote yesterday into whether he deliberately misled the House of Commons in previously denying any Downing Street rule-breaking.
The India trip has been twice postponed because of COVID-19 flare-ups in each country, and was briefly in doubt again this week when the vote was announced, with opposition leaders insisting Johnson stand down.
However, UK sources said it was seen as too important to put off again. Downing Street said it would seal more than US$1.3 billion in two-way investment deals, creating almost 11,000 jobs in Britain.
“What we’re focusing on today is the incredible opportunities to deepen this partnership,” Johnson told reporters while visiting a factory in Gujarat.
Downing Street said the visit would yield new partnerships on defense, artificial intelligence and green energy, along with investment deals in areas including robotics, electric vehicles and satellite launches.
However, London acknowledged that it is some way off clinching a post-Brexit trade deal with Modi’s government, which wants more visas for Indians to work or study in the UK.
Meanwhile, India has refused to openly condemn Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, reliant as it is on Russian imports of energy, agricultural goods and military hardware.
“India and Russia have historically a very different relationship, perhaps than Russia and the UK have had over the last couple of decades,” Johnson said. “We have to reflect that reality, but clearly I’ll be talking about it to Narendra Modi.”
Johnson is to tout the benefits of India moving more quickly toward renewables — a pertinent strategic issue as countries attempt to pivot away from Russian energy.
“Both our countries are excessively reliant on foreign hydrocarbons, and we need to move away from that together,” Johnson said. “One of the things that we’re talking about is what we can do to build partnerships on hydrogen, on electric vehicles, on offshore wind, on all the ways that you can reduce the cost of energy for people with green technology.”
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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