NEW DELHI: With Joe Biden emerging victorious in a closely contested US presidential poll and all eyes on him over the fate of India-US ties under his regime, we look at his role in the past in helping boost bilateral relations.
Biden has been a strong supporter of India and India-US partnership as a Senator between 1973 and 2008 and later as Vice President 2009-2016 in the Barack Obama administration.
Biden reiterated his vision for US-India partnership in his campaign document too.
“We stand with India in facing threats in the region and on its borders. The world would be a safer place if the two countries came closer together,” his campaign document read.
Biden also called for expanding two-way trade and tackling big global challenges including climate change and global health security together with India.
As Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he consistently lent his support to several resolutions in support for India while in 2001 as the chairman of the panel, Biden wrote to then President George W Bush urging him to drop the US sanctions against India.
He was also instrument in getting the Senate’s approval for the India-US Civil Nuclear agreement in 2008 and has sponsored several laws on countering terrorism.
Biden was also a critical ally for India in the Senate during the negotiation of the nuclear deal between Bush and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
He traveled to India with then Senators Chuck Hagel and John Kerry in early 2008, before the US Congress approved the nuclear deal with India.
Biden, as vice-president, visited India from July 22-25, 2013 on an official visit where he called on then President Pranab Mukherjee, met then Vice President Hamid Ansari and visited Gandhi Smriti Museum in Delhi.
He also visited Mumbai to meet business leaders at a round table and delivered a policy speech at the Bombay Stock Exchange. As vice-president, Biden also hosted a lunch for Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the US in 2014 and also chaired the joint session of the US Congress which Modi addressed.
It was during the Obama administration in 2016, when Biden was vice-president that the US named India as a major defence partner which allowed New Delhi to be treated at par with other close partners of Washington in terms of access to advance and sensitive military technologies.