NEW DELHI (AFP): Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington, calling the two countries' relationship vitally important despite recent friction and newfound US warmth towards China.
After joining President Donald Trump in Beijing a week ago, Rubio -- visiting both Asian powers for the first time -- flew to New Delhi and met Modi for more than an hour, inviting the premier to visit the White House soon.
Cutting the ribbon afterwards on a new wing to the US embassy, Rubio said the building was a "sign of our commitment to this important relationship".
"This important relationship between our two countries is at the cornerstone of our approach to the Indo-Pacific," Rubio said.
In a statement after the talk with Modi, State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said US-India ties were "rooted in our shared democratic values" as well as economic opportunity.
The glowing statements come after Trump shook up core assumptions on US foreign policy, including a commitment to building a stronger relationship with India, which was barely mentioned in his administration's national security strategy released last year.
During his visit to China, Trump hailed the reception he received from President Xi Jinping, despite limited concrete announcements.
Trump also spoke of the United States and China being a "G2" -- a formulation that had fallen out of favour in recent years as US allies fear being shut out of Washington's dealings with a rising China.
- Starting with nuns -
Rubio, a devout Catholic, began his four-day, four-city tour by touring the headquarters of Mother Teresa's charity in the eastern city of Kolkata and praying over her tomb.
Wearing a yellow garland over his suit, Rubio, joined by his wife Jeanette, smiled before an assembly of nuns, all clad in the late humanitarian's signature white and blue saris.
"Rubio spoke about aiding the homeless, terminally ill and those afflicted by leprosy," Sister Marie Juan of Missionaries of Charity told reporters after his hour-and-a-half-long visit.
"He was happy to pray, and we were also happy to have him," she said.
While Trump rarely raises human rights, some elements of his base have expressed concerns over the treatment of Christians under the Hindu nationalist Modi, making Rubio's choice of first stop highly symbolic.
Rights groups say there has been a rise in attacks on minority Christians across India, including vandalism of churches, since Modi came to power in 2014.
The government rejects the claims as exaggerated and politically motivated.
Before leaving on Tuesday, Rubio will also take part in a meeting of foreign ministers of the so-called Quad -- Australia, India, Japan and the United States.
China has long been suspicious of the Quad, calling it an attempt to encircle it, and has chastised India in the past for taking part in it.
Rubio also plans to pitch selling more US oil to India.
India's fast-growing economy is reliant on energy imports, and like many countries has been rattled by the US-Israeli attack on Iran, which retaliated by choking off the strategic Strait of Hormuz, sending global oil prices soaring.
India has historic ties with Iran but also a growing relationship with Israel, which Modi visited just days before the war erupted on February 28.
But the conflict has also seen the re-emergence as a key US partner of India's traditional adversary Pakistan, which has positioned itself as a mediator, with its powerful army chief flying on Friday to Tehran.
The United States was a Cold War partner of Pakistan but increasingly took a distance as it prioritised relations with India, seeing the democracy as a natural partner in a global order marked by China's rise.
Trump has turned away from long-held assumptions and warmed to Pakistan, which has lavished him with praise over his diplomacy in its short war with India last year, and has welcomed a cryptocurrency firm owned by the US president's family.
Modi irritated Trump by not crediting him with ending the war, in which India struck Pakistan following the massacre of mostly Hindu civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir. -- AFP
