In a major policy document on Indian-Americans, the Joe Biden administration’s campaign has said that it will place a “high priority” on continuing to strengthen the India-US relationship, asserting that no common global challenge can be solved without the two countries working as responsible partners.
The campaign also said Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden believes there can be no tolerance for terrorism in South Asia, cross-border or otherwise.
A Biden administration will also work with India to support a rules-based and stable Indo-Pacific region in which no country, including China, is able to threaten its neighbors with impunity, it said.
“Biden will deliver on his long-standing belief that India and the United States are natural partners, and a Biden administration will place a high priority on continuing to strengthen the US-India relationship,” the Biden Campaign said.
“No common global challenge can be solved without India and the United States working as responsible partners,” said ”Joe Biden’s Agenda for the Indian American Community” policy document.
“Together, we will continue strengthening India’s defense and capabilities as a counter-terrorism partner, improving health systems and pandemic response, and deepening cooperation in areas such as higher education, space exploration, and humanitarian relief,” the campaign further said.
The policy document comes days after former vice president Biden named Indian-origin US Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate. Harris, whose father is an African from Jamaica and mother an Indian, is the first-ever Black vice-presidential nominee.
“Biden will ensure that South Asian Americans are represented in his administration, starting with his Vice-Presidential nominee, Senator Kamala Harris, whose mother emigrated from India to study and build a life in the United States,” the campaign policy document said.
“Our government will reflect the diversity of the United States, and Indian American voices will be included in shaping the policies that impact their communities. From fighting COVID-19 to building our economy back better to reforming our system of immigration, a Biden-Harris Administration will be one that Indian-Americans can count on,” it added.
Mr Biden played a lead role, both as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and as the Vice President, in systematically deepening the US’ strategic engagement, people-to-people ties, and collaboration with India on global challenges, it said.
“In 2006, Biden announced his vision for the future of US-India relations: ”My dream is that in 2020, the two closest nations in the world will be India and the United States”,” it added.
He has also worked to make that vision a reality, including leading the charge in Congress, working with Democrats and Republicans, to approve the US-India Civil Nuclear Agreement in 2008, said the campaign.
The Obama-Biden administration continued to deepen collaboration between India and the United States on strategic, defence, economic, regional, and global challenges.