RDay PM Modis invite to Obama aimed at sending China a strong message
NEW DELHI: Prime minister Narendra Modi's decision to invite US president Barack Obama for the 2015 Republic Day celebrations may have surprised many in the world of diplomacy but it was a well calculated move by India's politico-bureaucratic establishment.
The invite was aimed at sending a strong message to China that has tested the new dispensation in Delhi through border transgressions and heightened defence cooperation with a few South Asian nations, according to officials familiar with decisions.
The PM, National Security Adviser AK Doval, foreign secretary Sujatha Singh and Indian ambassador to the US, S Jaishankar, unanimously decided to invite Obama in the wake of Beijing's muscular ambitions across Asia Pacific, the officials said. The RSS was also on the same page because of the China factor. A growing partnership between world's two largest democracies could provide stability and peace in the region, officials noted.
Modi, during his recent visits to Japan, the US and lastly to Australia, had emphasized on security partnership in Asia-Pacific. That said, leaders of two neighbouring countries — Nepal and Myanmar — were initially considered, officials said. Since he became PM, Modi has had wide engagements with Kathmandu and Nay Pyi Taw that tilted the decision in favour of the US.
NEW DELHI: Prime minister Narendra Modi's decision to invite US president Barack Obama for the 2015 Republic Day celebrations may have surprised many in the world of diplomacy but it was a well calculated move by India's politico-bureaucratic establishment.
The invite was aimed at sending a strong message to China that has tested the new dispensation in Delhi through border transgressions and heightened defence cooperation with a few South Asian nations, according to officials familiar with decisions.
The PM, National Security Adviser AK Doval, foreign secretary Sujatha Singh and Indian ambassador to the US, S Jaishankar, unanimously decided to invite Obama in the wake of Beijing's muscular ambitions across Asia Pacific, the officials said. The RSS was also on the same page because of the China factor. A growing partnership between world's two largest democracies could provide stability and peace in the region, officials noted.
Modi, during his recent visits to Japan, the US and lastly to Australia, had emphasized on security partnership in Asia-Pacific. That said, leaders of two neighbouring countries — Nepal and Myanmar — were initially considered, officials said. Since he became PM, Modi has had wide engagements with Kathmandu and Nay Pyi Taw that tilted the decision in favour of the US.
