The US had recognised India as a “major defence partner” in a joint statement issued during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit there last week.
Advertisement
“Unfortunately the Senator’s amendment was not included in the final NDAA FY17”, a congressional aide to the senator told PTI.
A week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s eloquent address to the United States parliamentarians in Washington, the Senate (Upper House) rejected a law that was aimed to recognise India as a “global strategic and defence partner”.
“The Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce, shall ensure that the authorisation of any proposed sale or export of defense articles, defense services, or technical data to India is treated in a manner similar to that of the US’ closest partners and allies, which include North Atlantic Treaty Organisation members, Australia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Israel and New Zealand”, it says.
McCain in a statement expressed disappointment over the fact that even though they had bipartisan support they could not get the proposed changes through the Senate as part of NDAA-2017.
“I regret that the Senate was unable to debate and vote on several matters critical to our national security, many of which enjoyed broad bipartisan support”, he said in a statement.
The US had aimed to use tensions between India and Pakistan as well as its own Asia Pivot as a backdrop to increased security cooperation with New Delhi.
“Seeing the U.S.as India’s indispensable partner”, Modi not only drew upon the precedent set by former Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, but put forward “a bold vision of a U.S. -India partnership that can anchor peace, prosperity and stability from Asia to Africa and from Indian Ocean to the Pacific and help ensure security of the sea lanes of commerce and freedom of navigation on seas”, Biswal said.
“The leaders reiterated the importance they attach to ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight and exploitation of resources as per worldwide law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and settlement of territorial disputes by peaceful means”, said the Indo-US joint statement. It is only after the common version of the bill is passed, President Barack Obama would sign that into law.
The Westinghouse venture in the making, to provide six nuclear reactors to India, Biswal said, was a culmination of the close relations.
Advertisement
After landing in Delhi from his United States trip, Modi took stock of ties with Moscow in a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday.
