President Obama visits Philippines, seals a 10-year defence cooperation agreement; President Obama strongly defends his foreign policy; The United States retains India on the priority watch list in 2014; India to hold trade talks on intellectual property
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Whatsapp
  • Linkedin
  • Print

    • Reports noted that during his visit to Philippines on April 28, President Barack Obama has sealed a 10-year deal with the country that will allow a larger US military presence in the Southeast Asian nation, as the US seeks to boost its trade relations with Asia and rival a rising China. The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement will allow American forces temporary access to selected military camps and allow them to preposition fighter jets and ships. 1

    According to reports, President Barack Obama vigorously defended his foreign policy record on April 28, arguing that his cautious approach to global problems has avoided the type of missteps that contributed to a "disastrous" decade of war for the United States. Obama's expansive comments came at the end of a weeklong Asia trip that exposed growing White House frustration with critics who cast the president as weak and ineffectual on the world stage. "Why is it that everybody is so eager to use military force after we've just gone through a decade of war at enormous costs to our troops and to our budget?" Obama said during a news conference in the Philippines. Summing up his foreign policy philosophy, Obama said it was one that "avoids errors. 2

    According to reports, the Obama administration has resisted pressure from the American domestic business lobby, notably Big Pharma. It has retained India on the priority watch list in 2014. "In making this determination, the United States recognizes ... the critical role that meaningful, constructive, and effective engagement between India and the United States should play in resolving concerns," the United States trade representatives annual "Super 301" report released here on April 30 said, while mollifying US pressure groups by announcing an out-of-cycle review of India in fall this year. Super 301 refers to a section of the US Trade Act of 1974 that authorizes the American president to take punitive action against foreign governments that violates international trade agreements or discriminates against or restricts US commerce. American business lobbies have been up in arms over the past several months alleging that New Delhi is guilty on both counts, mainly on account of widely different interpretations between their commercial interests and profiteering from life-saving drugs, and India determination to lower the cost of such medicines through broader interpretation by way of domestic patent law. 3

    According to reports, India on May 1 said that it would hold trade talks on intellectual property rights with the United States after its general election, buying time to address friction over drug patents until a new government is formed. Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher praised a decision by the U.S. Trade Representative not to label India with its worst offender tag in an annual scorecard on protecting U.S. patents, copyrights and other intellectual property. "It is a very sensible decision," Kher, India's chief trade negotiator, told Reuters, saying India was committed to protecting copyrights and reining in piracy. "They know very well that India is in transition." But he defended India's right to overrule patents in special cases - a bone of contention between the U.S. drugs industry and New Delhi, which wants its 1.2 billion people to have access to affordable medicines. 4

    According to reports, describing security cooperation with India as "a central element of the broad US-India strategic partnership", the US said that it looks forward to working closely with the next Indian government to build on it. India's "rise as a competent and confidant and capable power that advances regional stability, security and prosperity is something that the United States welcomes and supports," Nisha Desai Biswal, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia told a Congressional panel. "The US-India relationship has continued to mature, deepen and grow over successive administrations in both countries," she said in her testimony Wednesday before House Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific on "Assessing US Foreign Assistance Priorities in South Asia." Commenting on "the incredible display of democracy going on in India," Biswal said, the US continued to facilitate growth in India-US trade relationship and ensure new opportunities for businesses in each other's markets. "Our collaboration on energy, science and technology, environment, space, education and counterterrorism continues to deepen," she said." 5

    According to reports, the US has finally acknowledged that it would not try to mediate between India and Pakistan on Kashmir. In an interview to Pakistan TV, US special representative for Af-Pak James Dobbins said, "India has consistently rejected any third party mediation and argued that this is an issue that needs to be negotiated directly and without the participation of any third party. There is only a limited amount that the United States or any other party can do." Warning that terrorism should not be used as an instrument of policy, Dobbins cautioned, "I think India certainly is concerned about cross-border militancy and terrorist attacks that have been conducted in India which they believe had their origin on Pakistani territory.” 6

    Reports noted that the United States added new sanctions against Russia on April 28, expanding the list of targets but concentrating on the myriad holdings of four billionaires viewed as part of President Putin’s financial circle. Accusing Russia of failing to live up to its agreement to defuse the crisis in Ukraine, the Obama administration took aim at seventeen banks, energy companies, investment accounts and other firms controlled by the four men, in what amounted to an attempt to constrain the assets available to Putin’s close associates. In addition to the firms, the administration imposed sanctions on seven other prominent Russian figures, including two longtime Putin advisers: Igor I. Sechin, president of the state-owned Rosneft Oil Company, and Sergei V. Chemezov, the director general of Rostec, the Russian state corporation overseeing high-technology industries. The European Union said it would follow with sanctions on 15 Russians. 7

    According to reports, the White House on April 27 defended its foreign policy strategy on Russia, saying the international sanctions are hurting that country’s economy and has Russian citizens losing faith in President Vladimir Putin. White House Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken said Russia’s financial markets are down 22 percent since the first of the year and that the ruble, Russia’s currency, hovers near all-time lows. “What we're doing is bringing the world together to exert significant pressure on Russia,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Blinken defended the Obama administration’s strategy since Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula last month and as Putin continues to keep troops on the Ukraine-Russia border and send operatives across the border to destabilize Ukraine’s new, temporary government.” 8

    In other developments, according to reports, Indian-American Manish Shah has been confirmed by the US Senate as a federal judge in Illinois, becoming the first South Asian federal judge in the 5th most populous state of America. Shah, 40, was confirmed by the Senate by 95-0 votes. 9

    Top