India’s prime minister gets a lavish welcome in D.C., as the U.S. and India forge closer ties to counter China.
Welcome to VOA Asia Weekly. I'm Chris Casquejo in Washington. That story is just ahead, but first, making headlines:
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Monday. Blinken said the United States is ready to cooperate with China on issues of mutual interest. Those include climate change, macroeconomic stability, public health, food security and counter-narcotics efforts. But China did not agree to set up military-to-military communication channels.
Top North Korean officials vowed to push for a second attempt to launch a spy satellite as they called their country’s first, and failed, launch last month “the most serious” shortcoming this year and harshly criticized those responsible, state media reported Monday.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says his government would mobilize all available policy tools to ensure structural wage growth on Wednesday, signaling the need to raise workers' pay to offset inflation and sustain economic growth. Kishida expects China to also act responsibly as a major nation.
More than 6.356 million electric vehicle (EV) chargers have been built across China as of this past May. Government officials expect a growth rate of 700,000 EV chargers built per year.
U.S. President Joe Biden referred to Chinese President Xi Jinping as a dictator at a San Francisco Bay Area fundraiser on Tuesday. China on Wednesday called Biden's comments “extremely absurd and irresponsible.”
Refugees from Myanmar gathered in the Indian capital New Delhi on Tuesday to hold a prayer meeting as they marked World Refugee Day. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has been trying to repatriate Rohingyas, a Muslim minority from Myanmar who have found refuge in India after fleeing years of persecution and violent attacks.
President Biden hosted Indian Prime Minister Modi for a state visit Thursday, a sign of the growing relationship between the U.S. and India to counter an increasingly aggressive China.
Biden has made deepening defense ties with India a priority. He has offered to collaborate on military technology even though the U.S. and India lack a formal security alliance.
The U.S. has been trying to wean India away from its traditional arms dependence on Russia, its largest supplier of weapons for decades. 70 percent of India's military equipment is of Russian Soviet origin, a Cold War legacy.
The Biden administration is set to OK a deal to allow General Electric to produce jet engines for powering Indian military aircraft. In order for the deal to move forward, Congress must sign off.
India is also on track to buy 31 drones made by General Atomics worth slightly over $3 billion, sources told Reuters.
“The capabilities, whether in terms of maritime surveillance and or other operational roles have proven themselves over the years. And I think that resilient platform and that the ability of that platform to be used by several air forces and navies around the world is testament to the 7,000,000 plus hours that has been flown.”
Congressman Ro Khanna, who represents California’s Silicon Valley, says India is poised to capture more technology investment from U.S. companies.
“I'm hearing that there is a diversification effort, there's not a complete break from China, that's unrealistic and that would really dramatically lower GDP. But there is a view that we shouldn't have all of the eggs in the China basket, that we have to diversify our supply chain. And India is an attractive candidate, but we have to make sure that we continue to not take that for granted, cut through some of the bureaucratic hurdles, make sure that there's transparency not corruption, make sure that the U.S. India economic partnership is strong.”
Indian Prime Minister Modi was scheduled to address a joint session of Congress for the second time in nine years, and be the guest of honor at a White House state dinner.
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I’m Chris Casquejo, until next week.
