India, US work around Canada tensions

Dr Jaishankar’s visit to Washington, on the heels of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, was an opportunity to demonstrate that US-India ties remain strong, and also to begin to find a path out of the crisis with Canada, said Ms Lisa Curtis, a former deputy assistant to the US president and the National Security Council’s senior director for South and Central Asia from 2017 to 2021.

“India’s critical role in the Quad and in dealing with the China challenge means the Biden administration will seek to compartmentalise this incident from the broader strategic relationship,” said Ms Curtis, now a senior fellow and director of the Indo-Pacific Security Programme at the Centre for a New American Security, a Washington think-tank.

The Quad, or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, comprises India, Australia, Japan and the US in a loose, largely maritime coalition, focused on commitment to a free and open as well as stable Indo-Pacific. India is due to host a Quad summit in 2024.

“Six or seven years ago, there might have been more churn in the US system over (Canada’s) allegations,” Ms Curtis told ST.

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