After joining US President Donald Trump in Beijing a week ago, Rubio \u2014 visiting both Asian powers for the first time \u2014 flew to New Delhi and saw Modi for more than an hour, inviting the premier to visit the White House soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rubio \u201cunderscored the strategic importance of the US-India partnership, rooted in our shared democratic, profound economic and commercial opportunity and the strong personal ties\u201d between Modi and Trump, State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said, glossing over last year\u2019s friction between the world\u2019s two largest democracies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Modi, in a post on X, said he was \u201chappy\u201d to receive Rubio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe discussed sustained progress in the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership and issues related to regional and global peace and security,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Modi affirmed that India and the US \u201cwill continue to work closely for the global good\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump has shaken up core assumptions on US foreign policy, including a commitment to building a stronger relationship with India, which was barely mentioned in his administration\u2019s national security strategy released last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Visiting China, Trump hailed the reception he received from President Xi Jinping, despite limited concrete announcements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump also spoke of the United States and China being a \u201cG2\u201d \u2014 a formulation that had fallen out of favour in recent years as US allies fear being shut out of Washington\u2019s dealings with a rising China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Starting with nuns
Rubio, a devout Catholic, began his four-day, four-city tour by touring the headquarters of Mother Teresa\u2019s charity in the eastern city of Kolkata and praying over her tomb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wearing a yellow garland over his suit, Rubio, joined by his wife Jeanette, smiled before an assembly of nuns, all clad in the late humanitarian\u2019s signature white and blue saris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRubio spoke about aiding the homeless, terminally ill and those afflicted by leprosy,\u201d Sister Marie Juan of Missionaries of Charity told reporters after his hour-and-a-half-long visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe was happy to pray and we were also happy to have him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sergio Gor, the US ambassador to India and also a Catholic, later posted that the visit showed that the countries\u2019 relationship was based \u201cnot only on strong policies, but also on shared values\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Trump rarely raises human rights, some elements of his base have expressed concerns over the treatment of Christians under the Hindu nationalist Modi, making Rubio\u2019s choice of first stop highly symbolic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rights groups say there has been a rise in attacks on minority Christians across India, including vandalism of churches, since Modi came to power in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government rejects the claims as exaggerated and politically motivated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before leaving on Tuesday, Rubio will also take part in a meeting of foreign ministers of the so-called Quad \u2014 Australia, India, Japan and the United States \u2014 four democracies seen as a counterweight to China\u2019s presence in the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China has long been suspicious of the Quad, calling it an attempt to encircle it, and has chastised India in the past for taking part in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ahead of the trip, Rubio called India a \u201cgreat ally, great partner\u201d and said the US would be looking to find ways to sell it more oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
India\u2019s fast-growing economy is reliant on energy imports and, like many countries, has been rattled by the US-Israeli attack on Iran, which retaliated by choking off the strategic Strait of Hormuz, sending global oil prices soaring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
India has historic ties with Iran but also a growing relationship with Israel, which Modi visited just days before the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the conflict has also seen the re-emergence as a key US partner of India\u2019s traditional adversary Pakistan, which has positioned itself as a mediator, with its powerful army chief flying to Tehran on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United States was a Cold War partner of Pakistan but increasingly took a distance as it prioritised relations with India, seeing the world\u2019s largest democracy as a natural partner in a global order marked by China\u2019s rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump has turned away from long-held assumptions and warmed to Pakistan, which has lavished him with praise over his diplomacy in its short conflict with India last year, and has welcomed a cryptocurrency firm owned by the US president\u2019s family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Modi irritated Trump by not crediting him with ending the conflict, in which India struck Pakistan following the Pahalgam attack in India-occupied Kashmir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump imposed punitive tariffs on India shortly afterwards, at rates higher than he had put on China, but they were eased under a trade deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After joining US President Donald Trump in Beijing a week ago, Rubio \u2014 visiting both Asian powers for the first time \u2014 flew to New Delhi and saw Modi for more than an hour, inviting the premier to visit the White House soon. Rubio \u201cunderscored the strategic importance of the US-India partnership, rooted in our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n