Biden to host India's Modi with human rights in mind: White House

The visit will strengthen the two countries’ strategic technology partnership including defence, clean energy, and space

US President Joe Biden will host Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an official state visit on Jun 22, the White House said on Wednesday, as Washington works to deepen ties with the world's largest democracy.

"The visit will strengthen our two countries’ shared commitment to a free, open, prosperous and secure Indo-Pacific and our shared resolve to elevate our strategic technology partnership, including in defence, clean energy, and space," Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

Biden has been eager to strengthen relations with India as part of his bid to win what he has framed as a contest between free and autocratic societies, especially China.

Asked about human rights concerns in India, Jean-Pierre defended the visit, telling reporters that Biden believes "this is an important relationship that we need to continue and build on as it relates to human rights."

During a February visit to Washington by India's national security adviser, Ajit Doval, the United States and India launched a partnership to deepen ties on military equipment, semiconductors and artificial intelligence.

New Delhi has frustrated Washington by participating in military exercises with Russia and increasing purchases of the country's crude oil, a key source of funding for the war in Ukraine. Washington has been pushing New Delhi to do more to punish Russia for the Ukraine invasion.

Ashley Tellis, a former US government official behind US efforts to engage more closely with India, caused a stir this month, arguing in the Foreign Affairs periodical that Washington's expectations of US-India relations are misplaced particularly when it comes to China, despite shared concerns about Beijing’s growing power.

While the United States has focused on "contributions toward coalition defense," he wrote, "New Delhi sees things differently. It does not presume that American assistance imposes any further obligations on itself.”

The Biden administration had also overlooked India’s “democratic erosion” under Modi, and “its unhelpful foreign policy choices, such as its refusal to condemn Moscow’s ongoing aggression in Ukraine,” Tellis added.

Modi's relationship with Washington has evolved since 2005, when the administration of President George W. Bush denied him a visa under a US law barring entry to foreigners who have committed "particularly severe violations of religious freedom."

That move stemmed from the killing of more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, in sectarian riots in the Indian state of Gujarat shortly after Modi became its chief minister. Modi denied wrongdoing.

Former President Barack Obama invited Modi to the White House in 2014, after his Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies swept India’s elections, putting him in position to be prime minister in a seismic political shift that gave the Hindu nationalist and his party a mandate for sweeping economic reform.