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17-03-2023
WASHINGTON: The US Senate confirmed President Joe Biden’s nominee Eric Garcetti as ambassador to India on Wednesday, ending a nearly two-year nomination fight over allegations the former Los Angeles mayor mishandled workplace harassment complaints.
Senators backed Garcetti by 52-42, as seven Republicans joined the majority of Democrats in supporting Garcetti and three Democrats joined most Republicans in voting no.
The United States has not had an ambassador to New Delhi since January 2021, an absence that has loomed large as Washington looks to India to be a partner in efforts to push back against China’s expanding power and influence.
“The United States-India relationship is extremely important and it’s a very good thing we now have an ambassador,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who led a congressional delegation to India last month.
Biden is eager to deepen ties with India, the world’s largest democracy and a major US trading partner, as part of his bid to win what he has framed as a contest between free and autocratic societies.
There are an estimated 2.7 million Indian immigrants living in the United States.
However, New Delhi has frustrated Washington by participating in military exercises with Russia and increasing purchases of the country’s crude oil, an important source of funding for the war in Ukraine. India is also a major purchaser of Russian military equipment.
Biden nominated Garcetti for the post in July 2021 but he was held up partly due to questions about his handling of allegations of sexual harassment against an aide when he was mayor. Garcetti has denied wrongdoing.
Los Angeles mayor from 2013 until a term limit pushed him from office last year, Garcetti is close to Biden and co-chaired his 2020 presidential campaign.
The United States brought its most advanced fighter jet, the F-35, to India for the first time this week alongside F-16s, Super Hornets and B-1B bombers as Washington looks to woo New Delhi away from its traditional military supplier, Russia.
India, desperate to modernise its largely Soviet-era fighter jet fleet to boost its air power, is concerned about Russian supply delays due to the Ukraine war and faces pressure from the West to distance itself from Moscow.
The American delegation to the week-long Aero India show in Bengaluru, which ends on Friday, is the biggest in the 27-year history of the show and underlines the growing strategic relationship between the United States and India.
In contrast, Russia, India’s largest weapons supplier since the Soviet Union days, had a nominal presence. Its state-
owned weapons exporter Rosoboronexport had a joint stall with United Aircraft and Almaz-Antey, displaying miniature models of aircraft, trucks, radars and tanks.
At previous editions of the show, Rosoboronexport had a more central position for its stall, although Russia has not brought a fighter jet to Bengaluru for a decade after India began considering more European and US fighter jets.
Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornets have already entered the race to supply fighter jets for the Indian Navy’s second aircraft carrier and Lockheed Martin’s F-21, an upgraded F-16 designed for India unveiled at Aero India in 2019, are also being offered to the air force.
A $20 billion air force proposal to buy 114 multi-role fighter aircraft has been pending for five years, brought into sharp focus by tensions with China and Pakistan.
The F-35 is not being considered by India “as of now”, according to an Indian Air Force (IAF) source, but the display of two F-35s at Aero India for the first time was a sign of New Delhi’s growing strategic importance to Washington. (Int’l News Desk)
