Aaron Mehta and Joe Gould
WASHINGTON — When Indian prime minister Narendra Modi addresses a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, he will find a warm reception from lawmakers — something nearly unthinkable 15 years ago, when India still proudly existed as a non-allied state with the US.
But while Modi’s appearance on the Hill will garner headlines, the biggest change in the relationship between the two nations has been happening at the executive level.
The Obama administration has made strengthening ties with India a priority, something highlighted by the focus Defense Secretary Ash Carter has had on the South Asian nation. Carter has visited India twice, and repeatedly expressed his appreciation for both India generally and Minister of Defense Manohar Parrikar specifically.
Ashley Tellis, a former State Department official now with the Carnegie Endowment, calls the Modi visit “a culmination of what Obama has tried to do since he came into office, adding that “executive branch to executive branch — that is a dramatic transformation where the US today sees India as a security partner of choice in the broader Indo-Pacific region.”
Once chilly over India's nuclear tests, the US-India defense relationship now features technology exchanges, joint military exercises and, of late, an intensified maritime security dialogue undoubtedly meant to send a signal to China. Frank Wisner, an ambassador to India under President Clinton, said for all these reasons, the barriers to the relationship are no longer political, but based only on bureaucracy for the US and defense budgets for India.
"This is one of the biggest, fastest moving defense relationships in the world, period," said Wisner, now with the international law firm Squire Patton Boggs, adding later: "We have an interest in an India that is robustly armed. India is not a predatory power, and she is big enough and important enough that she helps anchor the balance of power in Asia. A good relationship with India is part of a good relationship with China."
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