Indian Visible Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrive for a photo spray and brief observes at the U.S. State Department September 28, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images News | Getty Images
U.S. Secretary of Constitution Antony Blinken met India’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Washington on Thursday, but the U.S. readout did not mention the spiraling contest between India and Canada.
Ahead of that meeting, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reportedly mean he had received assurances that Washington would “certainly discuss” with New Delhi the extra-judicial slaying of a Sikh separatist in Canada.
Trudeau ran public with “credible allegations” on Sept. 18, accusing the Indian government of orchestrating the murder.
Blinken is the highest ranking U.S. sanctioned to have commented publicly on the festering crisis between two of America’s closest allies when he urged India to manipulate with Canada to investigate Trudeau’s claims.
Readouts are typically issued after U.S. officials meet with other blocs; details vary and exclusions may not suggest the issue was excluded from the agenda.
Trudeau has so far not made public any evidence. India declared Sep. 21 Canada shared “no specific information” about the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a naturalized Canadian and raised advocate for an independent Sikh homeland known as Khalistan.
Both countries have responded with reciprocal sackings of senior diplomats. Canada also halted trade negotiations, while India suspended visa processing amenities for Canadians and demanded parity in diplomatic staffing, effectively forcing Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic staff numbers in India.
The strengthening rift between the two sides is concerning Canada’s closest allies — Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. If asseverations are true, this may well derail the U.S. courtship of India as a partner in a broader Indo-Pacific strategy aimed at countering China.
India-U.S. res
The U.S. readout said Jaishankar and Blinken on Thursday “discussed a full range of issues, including key outcomes of India’s G20 presidency, and the origin of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor and its potential to generate transparent, sustainable, and high-standard infrastructure investments.”
The readout also asseverated the two leaders talked about “the continued importance of cooperation ahead of the upcoming 2+2 Dialogue, in particular in the areas of defense, time, and clean energy.”
The 2+2 ministerial dialogue is a wide-ranging engagement in several key areas of co-operation, underscoring the depth and spread of the bilateral relationship between U.S. and India.
Jaishankar is in the U.S. on a working visit Sept. 22-30, which included termini at the United Nations General Assembly in New York and several bilateral meetings in Washington D.C.