US NSA Sullivan says Playing long game with India, engaged in ‘deep dialogue’
Sullivan then went on to speak about the “deep, respectful and strategic” dialogue with India, right from the level of President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While acknowledging that the United States (US) and India have a clear difference in perspective on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, US national security advisor Jake Sullivan has said that the US is playing the “long game” with India, the two countries are engaged in a “deep, respectful and strategic” dialogue, and there is “much more convergence” between New Delhi and Washington on how to deal with the strategic challenge posed by China.
Sullivan also suggested that the US respects India’s sovereign right to take its own decisions, placed the different relationships the two countries share with Moscow in a historical perspective, and emphasised that the dialogue with India is not meant to make demands on New Delhi or force it to change but slowly find ways to lead towards better outcomes.
Speaking at the Centre for a New American Security in Washington DC on Thursday, when asked about India’s stance on Russia, its refusal to participate in the US efforts against the invasion, and how this has affected ties, Sullivan first acknowledged that there are differences. “It is certainly a difference in perspective that we have to be direct with our Indian counterparts about — how we view the situation, how we would encourage them to overtime take a different perspective themselves. But they are a sovereign, democratic nation. They will make their own decisions. We are not here to lecture them or insist on a certain outcome or else..”
Sullivan then went on to speak about the “deep, respectful and strategic” dialogue with India, right from the level of President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“We are playing a long game here. We are investing in a relationship that we are not going to judge by one issue, even if that issue is quite consequential, but rather that we are going to judge over the fullness of time, as we try to work to convergence on the major strategic questions facing our two countries”.
One of those issues was China. “On one of those questions, how to deal with the challenge posed by China, there is much more convergence today and that is important to US foreign policy,” Sullivan said.
The NSA also placed the different relationships the US and India have with Russia in a historical context. “On the question of Russia, obviously, we have different historical perspectives, different muscle memories. But we feel confident that the dialogue we have going with India right now will bear fruit over time in a way that is not about forcing them to change or demanding things of them, but rather is a kind of an iterative approach in a strategic relationship that, tended well, will lead to better outcomes.”
Sullivan is President Biden’s top aide on national security and is widely seen as having driven the Indo-Pacific strategy of the administration from his perch at the National Security Council. His comments come in the wake of differences between India and the US over Ukraine, but also in the backdrop of intensified engagement between the two countries, both under the bilateral and Quad format, in recent months. Both Delhi and Washington have made a conscious effort, at the level of governments, to manage differences in Ukraine while deepening cooperation in other areas.
During his visit to Washington in April, external affairs minister S Jaishankar met Sullivan. Sullivan was also a part of the video call between Biden and Modi that kicked off the 2+2 dialogue. The US NSA participated in President Biden’s bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Modi in Tokyo, as well as in the Quad deliberations. Sullivan is also the US administration’s key point of contact with China and recently met top Chinese official, Yang Jiechi, for four and a half hours in Luxembourg. All of this makes him arguably the most authoritative voice on US strategy and policy, including on India.