Joe Biden to prioritise India ties, fight terror, stop China threats

'Together, we will continue strengthening India's defence and capabilities as a counter-terrorism partner, improving health systems and pandemic response, and deepening cooperation in areas such as higher education, space exploration,

and humanitarian relief'

NEW YORK: Joe Biden, who will be the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, will give "high priority to" strengthening India-US relations including on counter-terrorism and for ensuring China can't threaten its neighbours, according to his campaign.

A document, "Joe Biden's Agenda for the Indian American Community," issued by his campaign on Saturday outlining his stand on issues of interest to those citizens said that Biden will introduce several immigration reforms that could benefit Indians, who face decades-long backlogs, and modernise the H1-B and other work-based visas for highly qualified professionals.

The document said, "No common global challenge can be solved without India and the United States working as responsible partners."

"Biden believes there can be no tolerance for terrorism in South Asia - cross-border or otherwise," the agenda said.

"A Biden administration will also work with India to support a rules-based and stable Indo-Pacific region in which no country, including China, is able to threaten its neighbours with impunity," it added.

Unlike communal appeals to Muslims and Jewish people in religion-specific documents, there were no such Biden agendas for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhist and Jains but only a general document directed at Indian Americans.

The Democratic Party's list of religious leaders who will be saying the opening prayers and giving the blessings at its convention sessions has only members of various Christian sects, the Jewish faith and Islam.

On bilateral relations with India, the Agenda for Indian American Communities noted that when Biden was the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2007, he had said, "My dream is that in 2020, the two closest nations in the world will be India and the United States."

"Biden will deliver on his long-standing belief that India and the United States are natural partners, and a Biden administration will place a high priority on continuing to strengthen the US-India relationship," it said.

It added, "Together, we will continue strengthening India's defence and capabilities as a counter-terrorism partner, improving health systems and pandemic response, and deepening cooperation in areas such as higher education, space exploration, and humanitarian relief."

On issues directly impacting Indian Americans, the agenda said that "Biden will ensure that South Asian Americans are represented in his administration, starting with his vice presidential nominee, Senator Kamala Harris, whose mother emigrated from India."

On immigration, the agenda said that reforms that while supporting family-based immigration, increase the number of green cards for those qualifying based on employment, subject to "macroeconomic conditions," the agenda said.

These reforms will cut the decades-long waits for visas, it said. Any recent PhDs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields would be exempt from the limits on the number of green cards, it said. Biden will also support reforming the the H1-B and other employment-based visa systems to "protect wages and workers," the agenda said without providing further details.

It said that Biden will support a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants from India, who it said numbered 500,000.

Trump has proposed ending green cards for extended family members beyond the nuclear family, while introducing a merit-based system of immigration. (IANS) 

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