There was also a performative edge to the occasion in a major social event to mark the 250th year of American independence held at the Bharat Mandapam facility.
The highlight of the event was an appearance by Donald Trump via audio call where he again expressed his “love” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, termed him “great” , “friend” and adding, “We’ve never been closer to India and India can count on me 100 percent and on our country. If they ever need help, they know where to call—they’ll call right here.”
Whether the Rubio visit, his explanations and excuses can change things is the big question now becoming even more urgent given the major strategic shift in the US-China relationship.
Let there be no doubt that the Indo-US bonhomie of the last three decades owed themselves to a common concern over the rise of China. With the US and China arriving at what has been variously described as a “strategic stalemate” , “strategic stability” “diplomatic pause”, “managed co-existence” there is little doubt that the relevance of India to US calculations has diminished.
This raises a big question mark on the future of the Quadrilateral Dialogue (Quad) grouping comprising the US, Japan, Australia, and India. The ostensible purpose of the Rubio visit was to participate in a meeting of Quad foreign ministers on Tuesday, 26 May. The meeting comes at a time when the Quad is visibly faltering, with no summit held in 2025 and so far with no indication as to whether one will take place this year.
It was in Trump’s first term that the grouping was revived and its status was soon boosted to a leadership-level arrangement. It set out an ambitious agenda of vaccine diplomacy, cooperation in developing quality infrastructure, critical and emerging technologies, climate change, and maritime security.
But the grouping seems to have lost steam with little to show for in the items listed above, except in the case of maritime security.
