‘Modi hai to mumkin hai’: Mike Pompeo
| Date :14-Jun-2019 |
By Lalit K Jha
WASHINGTON:
“Both countries should build ever-stronger relationships,” Mike Pompeo said ahead of India visit
CITING the popular election slogan ‘Modi hai to mumkin hai’, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has expressed confidence in taking the Indo-US strategic ties to the next level and said that the two leading democracies have an ‘incredibly unique opportunity’ to move ahead, including to make sure a free and open Indo-Pacific. Giving a ‘sneak preview’ of his upcoming visit to New Delhi later this month to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the new External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Pompeo said that both countries should build ever-stronger relationships.
Noting that the US has a long bond with India, Pompeo said that time has come to forge more stronger ties. He said that both sides should formalise these individual friendships, building out a diplomatic framework for the two countries. “As Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi said in his latest (election) campaign, ‘Modi hai to mumkin hai,’ (Modi makes it possible), I’m looking forward to exploring what’s possible between our people,” Pompeo said in his major India policy speech at the India Ideas Summit of US-India Business Council here on Wednesday. Pompeo listed out some of the ‘big ideas and big opportunities’ that can take the Indo-US bilateral relationship to a new level.
Pompeo said that he truly believes the two nations have a unique opportunity to move forward together for the good of their peoples, the Indo-Pacific region, and the world. Pompeo will travel to India, Sri Lanka, Japan and South Korea from June 24 to 30. His four-nation is aimed at deepening US partnerships in the strategic Indo-Pacific region where China is flexing its military muscles. China has been trying to expand its military presence in the Indo-Pacific, which is a biogeographic region, comprising the Indian Ocean and the western and central Pacific Ocean, including the South China Sea.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counter claims over the sea. Pompeo said that under President Donald Trump, the US has taken defence cooperation to newer heights, solidified their common vision for the Indo-Pacific and taken a far tougher stand on Pakistan’s unacceptable support for terrorism. Now the Trump and Modi Administrations have a ‘unique opportunity to take this special partnership even further’, Pompeo said that he has a strong partner in his new counterpart, Jaishankar – a former Indian ambassador to the United States.