Timed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s arrival in Washington, the U.S. Senate’s India Caucus Co-Chairs, Mark Warner (Democrat, Virginia) and John Cornyn (Republican, Texas), will introduce legislation to give India ‘NATO plus five’ defence status. India’s External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar, however, had already rejected the framework for India.
The arrangement currently exists between the U.S, its NATO partners and five countries: Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan and Israel. The Warner announcement follows a recommendation from a U.S. House of Representatives committee on China that India be included in the club.
“Senator Cornyn and I ... will be introducing this week, both as a standalone Bill and as an amendment to the defense authorisation, an effort to upgrade India-US defence ties.,” Mr. Warner told reporters on a Tuesday press call.
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“What we propose is adding India to the so-called ‘NATO plus five’ arrangement, where the United States is able to transfer with as little bureaucratic interference as possible defence equipment in a very strong way,” he said.
Mr. Jaishankar had said on June 9 that while he appreciated the Congressional panel’s sentiment of wanting “to do more with India” the template it was proposing did not apply to the country. This is something the Biden administration (i.e., the Executive, which is separate from the U.S. Congress) understood “very, very well”, according to Mr. Jaishankar.
“A lot of Americans still have that NATO treaty construct in their heads,” Mr. Jaishankar had said, suggesting that it was the only template with which Americans looked at the world.
Mr. Warner defended his move on Tuesday saying one of the most effective ways to improve India’s defence capabilities (he cited the threat from China) was to increase defence trade between the U.S. and India.
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Hope Modi will reaffirm commitment to democracy: Warner
On the Modi government’s human rights record, Mr. Warner said that individuals at the State Department would raise the issue with their counterparts this week and he hoped that Mr. Modi would reaffirm his commitment to democracy.
“I think India is one of the most powerful nations in the world. I hope that we will hear from Prime Minister Modi a reaffirmation of his commitment to democracy and all that entails,” Mr. Warner added. Citing the example of the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a far-right mob , the Senator said there were forces in the U.S. as well who questioned the country’s democratic principles.
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“I think together these two great nations both need to make sure we are totally committed to democracy and human rights, freedom of belief and freedom of expression,” he said.
Mr. Warner said he was looking forward to welcoming Mr. Modi to Washington and wanted to move the India-U.S. relationship beyond common descriptions applied to it such as the world’s “oldest democracy” and the world’s “biggest democracy” to a “full-fledged partnership”.
