Video Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj
Traditionally, the United States’ “special relationship” has been the one it shares with the United Kingdom – the first truly peaceful handover of the seat of international power, from the world’s coloniser to the ‘leader of the free world’.
US’ Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, used the term to refer to the US-India relationship during a speech in New Delhi hosted by the Observer Research Foundation on Thursday, 28 June, in a sign of just how seriously the US is taking India’s role as a partner in the region. Which region? That would be the Indo-Pacific – a switch from ‘Asia Pacific’ that had long been the nomenclature. Haley’s visit – her first since assuming her role as UN envoy – comes soon after the renamed its United States Pacific Command the United States Indo-Pacific Command, to really drive the point home.
Haley’s speech on Thursday emphasised the role America sees India playing in the Indo-Pacific, the threats to international order it perceives, and how India and the US can combat them together.
ORF Director, Samir Saran, asked Haley what she thinks of the ‘commentariat’ who say that there has been a cooling of sorts in the relationship. Haley’s emphatic response was, “Well I hope that’s not what they think!”, going on to highlight the growing areas of cooperation between the two countries, and reiterating her belief that the US and India can really do good in the world, leveraging their shared values.
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