US Republican Senator Steve Daines used his phone as an example to highlight his confidence in India more than China, saying that he carries it with him when he travels to Delhi but leaves it behind when he visits Beijing.
India, in partnership with the United States, stands as a unique nation equipped to rival the scale and dimensions of China’s innovation network, Daines said at the leadership summit of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) held in Washington on Tuesday, describing the bilateral relationship as crucial not only to the two democracies but to the global community.
Explaining his view on the trust factor towards India and China, Daines said that when he travels to Beijing, his phone does not go with him.
“When I travel to China, this phone doesn’t go with me to Beijing. It stays on my desk in Washington, D.C. When I travel to Delhi or anywhere in India, this is with me,” Daines, the Republican senator from Montana, said while speaking at the summit where he reportedly received a Public Service Award from the USISPF for his efforts to strengthen bilateral relations.
“India is the only country that competes with China in…
Washington needs to adopt a more strategic approach regarding India’s role while confronting the geopolitical challenge posed by China, Daines said during a conversation with Raj Subramaniam, President and CEO of FedEx.
“We need a high-confidence counterpoint when we think about what is happening with China,” he said.
Daines said that while the United States cannot completely sever ties with China, it must prioritize de-risking its operations while simultaneously creating reliable strategic alliances.
“We can’t decouple from China. We need to engage, we need to de-risk,” he was quoted as saying, adding, “But this begs the question, so what are we going to do proactively as we think about strategic partnerships and opportunities?”
The Senator acknowledged the importance of India’s integrated talent pool and said the US provides the scale needed to compete on the global stage.
He described India as the only country in the world that can match the size of China’s innovation ecosystem. “There is only one country in the world that can match the scale and scale of China’s innovation ecosystem, and that is India working with the US… The only hope we can think of globally to compete with that, to build scale is India plus the US,” he said.
The lawmaker, who has traveled extensively across Asia, stressed that direct personal diplomacy remains vital to shaping an influential foreign policy.
He pointed out that “there is nothing better than visiting and spending time with the people,” stressing that mutual trust is the fundamental basis of the Indo-American equation.
Daines noted that although Washington frequently deliberates on the Chinese challenge, it has stopped short of formulating a concrete strategy regarding the specific alliances that require strengthening.
He said: “We talk a lot here in Washington about the challenge with China, but we haven’t really thought about a strategy of, well, what do we need to do moving forward? What relationship needs to be strengthened here to achieve this balance.”
