HouseBy Lalit K JhaWashington, Nov 14 (PTI) India is a natural ally of theUS due to their shared commitment to democracy andcounterterrorism, according to a senior White House officialwho said the bilateral relationship is going to get strongerand better under the Trump administration.
White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah'sremarks came hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and USPresident Donald Trump held a meeting in Manila on thesidelines of the ASEAN Summit.
The two countries are going to have a "strongrelationship and it's going to get stronger" under thispresident, Shah, the highest-ranking Indian-American ever inthe White House press wing, told a group of Indian reportersyesterday.
"India is a natural ally of the United States, because ofthe shared commitment to democracy and to counterterrorism,and because the region is so vital to the US security," hesaid.
Shah said that the US-India relationship should stand onits own leg and "not be contingent" on any other relationship.
There are a lot more in common between India and the USthan that between the US and China, he said.
"The relationship with Modi is his relationship withModi. He likes (him)," he added.
Yesterday's meeting was the second between the twoleaders since they met at the White House in June. Theyhave also spoken over phone on several occasions after Trumpwas elected as the US President last year.
"They just get along," he said.
"I think, he (Trump) was impressed with Prime MinisterModi and you know I can't speak too much further than that,but you have a situation where they like each other. Thefundamentals of the relationship are set for a kind of arising tide," he said.
Describing the June meeting between Modi and Trump as a"really big step," Shah said the relationship between the twolargest democracies of the world is expanding in a wide rangeof areas, including regional security issues, trade andeconomy in addition to areas like terrorism.
"I think it's moved from security issues now towardeconomic issues in many ways...trade and energy exports, whichhave expanded to India in recent months actually, and a lot ofregional security issues not just kind of global terrorism.
There's democracy promotion in the area," he said.
"This among other things also includes helping countriesand in that region fighting terrorism. For instance, India ishelping the Philippines in some of the counter-terrorismissues," he added.
"So, this relationship has great deal of potential and weare very excited about it," Shah said.
Responding to a question on President Trump's recentvisit to China, Shah said some of the comments that gotattention over the past couple of days that he made in Chinaare not actually inconsistent with anything that he said inthe past which is that when the US has a large bilateral tradedeficit with any country it's not that countries fault forpursuing exports to the United States, it's Americannegotiators' fault.
"It's our either poor negotiations or misplacedpriorities that have led to these policies and it's been aproblem for administrations from both parties for decades. Andso we didn't get here overnight and are going to solve itovernight," Shah said.
"But to say that the Chinese alone are responsible forseveral hundred-billion-dollar trade deficit I think is notfully capturing everything that's going on this issue overmany years," he said.
He refuted apprehensions in some quarters in India aboutthe US-China relationship and its impact on India.
"Obviously, other interests are going to play a role.
But, the US and India are going to have a strong relationshipand it's going to get stronger under this president. Andlooking at it going forward there are so many issues thatChina, Pakistan other countries have a marginal role...it'sreally between the United States and India," he said.
Very optimistic about the cooperation that can happenbetween the United States and India, Shah said when it comesto South Asia, the US has the most common interests withIndia.
"They have a leading role to play. The expectation fromthe world community is that they will play a leading role insecuring that part of the world," he said. PTI LKJ AJR NSA AKJNSA.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.