India, US stress strategic ties but tensions remain
Updated: 2014-08-01 10:31
(Agencies)
|
|||||||||||
US Secretary of State John Kerry addresses the media as India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj (R) looks on during their joint news conference New Delhi July 31, 2014. [Photo/Agencies] |
New Delhi has insisted it must see more progress on a parallel pact giving it more freedom to subsidise and stockpile food grains than is allowed by World Trade Organization rules.
For its part, India on Thursday, raised the issue of US surveillance activities, with Sushma saying such acts were "unacceptable" and had caused resentment in her country.
According to a document leaked by former US security contractor Edward Snowden and published by the Washington Post earlier this year, Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party was among a handful of political organisations a US court allowed the US National Security Agency to spy on.
Kerry said it was not US practice to comment on intelligence matters but added: "We fully respect and understand the feelings expressed by the minister."
The Obama administration sees India as a key strategic counter-balance in Asia to an increasingly assertive China and has been seeking to revive ties since Modi's election in May.
The relationship took a dive last year after an Indian diplomat was arrested in New York on charges of mistreating her domestic help, an episode that provoked outrage in New Delhi.
Modi himself was banned from visiting the United States after Hindu mobs killed more than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, in 2002 while he was chief minister of his home state of Gujarat.
Kerry said the visa ban was from another time.
"It wasn't me," he said in an interview with India's NDTV network. "Different government, this is a different government."
Kerry said Modi would be welcomed in Washington "no questions whatsoever."
"We want a new relationship. We want to see things move in a very positive way," he said.
Related: India summons US envoy over spying claim
Related Stories
4 killed, 32 injured in road mishap in northern India 2014-07-31 15:44
Rain-triggered landslide buries hundreds in India 2014-07-31 09:13
India meth problem grows as criminals tap chemical hub 2014-07-31 06:58
About 150 may be trapped in landslide in India 2014-07-30 16:15
18 children, 1 man die in train-bus crash in India 2014-07-25 10:03
13 school children die in train-bus crash in India 2014-07-24 14:28
Today's Top News
Euro, Asia on alert over ebola outbreak
Veterans recall 1944 uprising against Nazis
Multinational bribery cases mount up
Experts reach plane crash site in Ukraine
Snowden's asylum status ending
Papa John's chain use old dough in China
Lawsuit challenges alleged gay 'cure'
London hottest property for Chinese investors
Hot Topics
Lunar probe , China growth forecasts, Emission rules get tougher, China seen through 'colored lens', International board,
Editor's Picks
Shaolin: Fists of fame |
Reading into an online age |
China helps fight international war on drugs |
Crackdown on terrorist attacks |
My China Story: Meeting the master |
Long march to end employment bias |