Smt. Sushma Swaraj Indian Politician, Mike Pompeo consent to reschedule postponed meet (External Affairs Minister) Sushma Swaraj and her American counterpart Mike Pompeo have agreed to reschedule the postponed ‘two dialogue’ at a mutually handy time and place as soon as possible, a State Department spokesperson said present day.
Ms Swaraj and Minister of Defence Nirmala Sitharaman were earlier scheduled to travel to the United States to take part in the meeting with Mr Pompeo and Secretary of Defense James Mattis on 6th July.
But yesterday, Mr Pompeo spoke over the phone with Ms Swaraj to express his “regret and deep despair” at the US having to postpone the dialogue for “mandatory reasons”.
Without explanation the “cause” behind the postponement of the dialogue, the spokesperson file a claim that the US-India relationship is “a prime priority” for the Trump administration and it looks forward to continuing to “resolute” the partnership.
“India’s central role in US national security is induct in the President’s National Security Strategy, which noted that ‘We welcome India’s emergence as a leading global power and stronger strategic and defence partner’,” the spokesperson Mentioned.
Responding query by news agency, the spokesperson told: “US emissary to the UN Nikki Haley is in New Delhi right now for a visit focused on outdo the US-India relationship and underscoring our shared values as the largest, newest and oldest democracies committed to a rules-based international order.”
The decision to postpone the maiden two dialogue between the two countries has come as a disappointment for India watchers in the American think-tank community.
For Joshua T White, a former Obama administration official, the postponement of the 2+2 talks was “unfortunate and more than a little embarrassing for the US”.
“But frankly I’m more worried that the growing cascade of disputes surrounding trade and investment will slowly sap momentum from this very important relationship,” White, currently a fellow at the Edwin O Reischauer Center for East Asia Studies at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, told PTI.
Michael Kugelman from the Wilson Center alleged that with Trump at the help of affairs, no US’ relationship was foolproof.
“Safe to say that US-India relations have taken their biggest tumble in quite some time,” he tweeted.
“In the Trump era, no US relationship is foolproof,” he said.
“This is really big. 2+2 could have been used to reset a relationship experiencing growing tensions on the econ side,” Mr Kugelman said in another tweet.
The new dialogue format was agreed upon between the two sides during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington in June 2017.
After June last year, the two countries have tried to schedule the dialogue many times with several dates having been considered.
“The postponement is disappointing,” Jeff Smith from Heritage Foundation, a think-tank close to the ruling Republican establishment told PTI.
“It is not so pleasing to see the 2+2 being called off. I believe the Trump administration is distracted with a summit with President Putin,” Bharat Gopalaswamy from the Atlantic Council said.
“Like the summit with North Korea, they believe they might be able to advance their relations with Russia, whatever that means in tangible terms. The US’ relations with Russia have deteriorated significantly over the last 18 months and I believe the Trump administration might be able to turn around a corner with one of US’s significant adversaries,” he said.
“So as far as I can understand, this is a very distracted administration but Trump has always had a fascination for Russia, Mr. Putin and the US being able to strike some sort of a deal with Russia. And that’s where he has set his focus right now,” Mr Gopalaswamy said in response to a question.
“I also do not think buying arms would be a concern for Trump administration. If that were the reason, why would Trump be focused on a summit with Russia?” he asked.
For Joshua T White, a former Obama administration official, the postponement of the 2+2 talks was “unfortunate and more than a little embarrassing for the US”.
“But frankly I’m more worried that the growing cascade of disputes surrounding trade and investment will slowly sap momentum from this very important relationship,” White, currently a fellow at the Edwin O Reischauer Center for East Asia Studies at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, told PTI.
Michael Kugelman from the Wilson Center alleged that with Trump at the help of affairs, no US’ relationship was foolproof.
“Safe to say that US-India relations have taken their biggest tumble in quite some time,” he tweeted.
“In the Trump era, no US relationship is foolproof,” he said.
“This is really big. 2+2 could have been used to reset a relationship experiencing growing tensions on the econ side,” Mr Kugelman said in another tweet.
The new dialogue format was agreed upon between the two sides during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington in June 2017.
After June last year, the two countries have tried to schedule the dialogue many times with several dates having been considered.
