Love Indian, Chinese people; want to keep peace: Trump

PTI, Jul 17, 2020, 10:04 AM IST

Washington: US President Donald Trump has said that he wants to do everything possible to keep peace for the people of India and China, according to his spokesperson. Over the past several weeks, the Trump administration has come out in support of India against China.

“He [Trump] said that he loved the people of India and China and wanted to do everything possible to keep the peace,” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters at a news conference.

She was responding to a question on Trump’s message to India, which recently had a standoff with China in eastern Ladakh along the Line of Actual Control.

Earlier in the day, White House Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow described India as a great ally, saying President Trump is a great friend of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that India has been a great partner of the US.

“India has been a great partner. They are an important partner of ours. I have a great relationship with my foreign minister counterpart. We talked frequently about a broad range of issues. We talked about the conflict they had along the border with China. We have talked about the risk that emanates from the Chinese telecommunication infrastructure there,” Pompeo told reporters in response to a question.

“Traveling in Europe, US National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien told reporters that China has been very aggressive with India. O’Brien said that India is a democracy and is a great friend of the United States. Prime Minister Modi and President Trump have a super relationship,” he said.

“In fact, it was the last foreign trip that I took with the president before the COVID-19 crisis hit, was to India, and we had a great reception of the Indian people there. We have a lot in common with them, we speak English, we’re democracies. We’ve got a growing, very strong relationship with India,” O’Brien said.

Welcoming the White House statement, Al Mason, co-chair of the Trump Victory Indian American Finance Committee, said that unlike his predecessor, President Trump has come out openly in support of India.

“Most of the Indian-Americans have observed that every earlier president—be it a Democrat or Republican, like Clinton or Bush Senior or Bush Jr or Obama have been very scared to side with India openly, for fear of hurting China. Only President Trump has had the courage to say that I love India and that America respects India,” Mason said in a statement.

“And he is consistent in his love for India and Indian-Americans,” he added.