Washington — President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, is set to make his final visit to India next week, highlighting Washington’s partnership with New Delhi, as announced by the White House on Friday.
This visit marks the culmination of the Biden administration’s efforts to strengthen ties with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, focusing strategically on countering China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
According to a senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, strengthening ties with India has been a “real foreign policy priority and area of legacy achievement for the Biden administration.” Sullivan’s trip to New Delhi on January 5-6 will cover various critical issues, including civil nuclear partnership, addressing China’s overcapacity in semiconductor and biopharma supply chains, and enhancing strategic technology cooperation along with shared security priorities.
Sullivan’s visit is taking place amidst rising tensions between India and China, particularly regarding Beijing’s plans to construct what it calls the “world’s largest” hydro dam on the Yarlung Zangbo River in the eastern section of the Tibetan plateau. This project has the potential to impact millions of residents downstream in India and Bangladesh.
During his visit, Sullivan is expected to address the dam issue and other regional concerns. An official stated, “What matters to us is that when it comes to water resources that need to be managed across countries, they should be handled fairly and equitably.”
A significant aspect of Sullivan’s visit will be to discuss the U.S.-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET). This initiative, announced by Biden and Modi in May 2022, aims to strengthen their strategic technology partnership and enhance defense-industrial cooperation across various sectors, including AI, quantum computing, semiconductors, and space exploration.
Sullivan’s trip is scheduled just two weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20, with many anticipating that the iCET initiative will progress under his administration. As noted by a second administration official, there is broad bipartisan support for the objectives of iCET, which include “strengthening the resilience of technology supply chains and collaborating with allies to counter PRC [People’s Republic of China] advancements in critical technologies and supply chains.”
The U.S. strategic partnership with New Delhi is fundamentally based on the premise that India’s economic, technological, and military growth is essential for countering China’s dominance in these fields. This perspective was articulated by Aparna Pande, director of the Initiative on the Future of India and South Asia at the Hudson Institute.
Despite some irritants, including concerns over India’s democratic backsliding and the recent case involving a former Indian government employee charged with murder-for-hire in New York, bilateral ties have not been derailed. Pande suggested that most of Biden’s policies regarding India are likely to continue, as Trump’s intentions to “push back or contain China’s rise – economically, technologically, and militarily – will ensure that India is viewed as a crucial partner in this regard.”
During his previous administration, Trump fostered a warm relationship with Modi, notably participating in the 2019 “Howdy Modi” rally in Texas, with Modi reciprocating by hosting a “Namaste Trump” rally in Ahmedabad in 2020.
