The ongoing war in Ukraine and US President Joe Biden’s remarks on India’s “shaky” stand on it are likely to dominate the upcoming “two plus two” dialogue between the defence and external affairs of the two countries in Washington next month.
Besides these issues, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will also review the progress of the Quad combine with their US counterparts Llyod Austin and Antony Blinken respectively on April 11, sources said here on Tuesday.
Incidentally, the heads of State of the Quad combine, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had met in person for the first time last year in Washington. The meet was hosted by President Biden. The four countries, including the US, India, Australia and Japan, took stock of the growing aggressive stance of China in the strategically important Indo-Pacific region.
India and the US will review the entire gamut of strategic and defence ties during the “two plus two” dialogue. The US has emerged as one of the biggest weapon suppliers to India with the figure touching the 15 billion dollar mark in the last one decade.
The US is likely to make a strong pitch for its armed drones and other sophisticated weaponry for India.
It will be first “two plus two dialogue” since Biden became President. He had recently said India is “shaky” on the issue of Ukraine war, while his officials said New Delhi may be on the “wrong side of history”.
India has all along maintained that dialogue is the only way out to resolve the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia. Prime Minister Modi has conveyed this viewpoint to President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. Modi has also favoured immediate cessation of hostilities.
Blinken and Austin are expected to share the US assessment of the Ukraine war and its impact at the global level, sources said. Meanwhile, India will give details of the persisting stand-offs at the border in Ladakh and a gist of the talks between Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi here last week, they said.