Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, chooses to visit Asia for her first foreign trip. Not Canada, the neighbor to the north. Not Mehico the other member of NAFTA. Not the staunch European allies in Nato in Europe. Hillary’s first visit is to Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and China.
Despite being derided by Candidate Obama, as the “Senator from Punjab” (for her and Bill’s affinity to India, Punjab being one of the most prosperous Indian states), despited being loved by Indians and Indian Americans, Secretary Clinton is skipping India for “scheduling reasons”.
The India Expert is not offended. The US-India relationship has matured so rapidly. President Obama has shown maturity in a) knowing how to pronounce Pakistan b) not including the divisive Kashmir issue in Richard Holbrooke’s mandate in that region and c) reaching out to Indian Americand and Indians early in his Presidency. There will be time enough to visit India in the near future.
In the meantime Boeing and Pepsico and Belkin and more companies continue to do grow business with India.
But here’s an article by a China expert, who thinks that Mrs. Clinton made a mistake in skipping India. Gordon Chang writes in Forbes.
“Clinton’s most important scheduling mistake is not that she’s going to China, however. It is the stopover that is not on the itinerary. If she wanted to go to Asia early in her tenure–and that is a generally sound strategy–she should have reserved time for New Delhi.
“India shares values with the U.S. as well as strategic goals. The relationship is promising, and there is much to discuss. The secretary of state would be surprised how much she could advance relations with the Indians—and how much progress she could make with the Chinese if they saw her talking to the nation they fear the most.”
