Narendra Modi Bolsters India’s Ties With U.S., Thanks (Partly) to Donald Trump
By GARDINER HARRIS and CORAL DAVENPORT

WASHINGTON — After decades of mistrust and fitful reconciliation efforts, India and the United States made a turn toward cooperation on Tuesday, and Donald J. Trump can claim at least some of the credit.

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, making his second visit to the White House in two years, announced a crucial step toward ratification of the Paris agreement to limit greenhouse gases, bringing the accord close to full implementation.

The two sides also announced that they intended to complete a deal in which India will buy six nuclear reactors from Westinghouse by June 2017, fulfilling an agreement struck in 2005 by President George W. Bush. The price is still under discussion, but more difficult issues like liability have been resolved.

“We continue to discuss a wide range of areas where we can cooperate more effectively in order to promote jobs, promote investment, promote trade and promote greater opportunities for our people, particularly young people, in both of our countries,” President Obama said in the Oval Office during the meeting.

Mr. Modi responded with his own praise of the burgeoning partnership. When President Obama visited India in January 2015, Mr. Modi referred to him as “Barack” and thanked him for his “deep personal commitment” to their friendship. In the Oval Office on Tuesday, Mr. Modi referred to the president as “my friend Obama.”

“The United States is well aware of the talent that India has,” Mr. Modi said in Hindi. “We and the United States can work together to bring forward this talent, and use it for the benefit of mankind and use it for the benefit of innovations and use it to achieve new progress.”

Mr. Modi has made clear that he intends to set aside decades of standoffishness — rooted in India’s colonial experience — to cement closer ties with Washington, in part because the next American leader may not share President Obama’s enthusiasm for India.

The news media in India has extensively chronicled comments by Mr. Trump that critics have said were racist, his “America First” views and his unorthodox campaign. While Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has said little about India, his vows to tighten immigration policies worry Indian officials.

“Modi wants to get as much as he can out of Obama’s last months in office,” said Ashley J. Tellis, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

For the Americans, the most important part of Mr. Modi’s visit was his announced intention to formally join the Paris climate change agreement by the end of this year. So far, countries representing about 50 percent of global emissions have announced that they will submit legal paperwork to the United Nations documenting their compliance with the deal.

The pact will become binding when at least 55 countries representing 55 percent of global emissions formally join. The inclusion of India, the world’s third-largest emitter after China and the United States, would guarantee that the deal will go into effect before the next American president takes office.

Mr. Trump has vowed to “cancel” the Paris climate agreement if elected, something Mr. Obama is eager to prevent. Once the accord enters into legal force, no nation can legally withdraw for four years.

“If the Paris agreement achieves ratification before Inauguration Day, it would be impossible for the Trump administration to renegotiate or even drop out during the first presidential term,” said Robert N. Stavins, the director of the environmental economics program at Harvard.

Mr. Obama and Mr. Modi also announced a separate agreement to cut the use of hydrofluorocarbons, potent planet-warming chemicals produced by coolants in refrigerators and air-conditioners. India and the United States have been at odds on the details of such a deal, but the agreement announced on Tuesday means both governments now expect in October to sign on to an international accord to phase out the chemicals. Phasing out the chemicals could reduce by 25 percent the expected warming of the planet by the end of the century.

“This is the most significant step the international community could take” to reduce climate warming, Brian Deese, a senior adviser to Mr. Obama, said in a call with reporters.

The two sides also announced joint efforts for the United States to invest in India’s renewable energy development, including the creation of a $20 million finance initiative.

The last time Mr. Modi visited, in September 2014, he was invited to dinner but announced that he was observing a religious fast. So Mr. Obama had the awkward task of eating before a guest who sipped only water. This time, at a working lunch, Mr. Modi ate.

On Wednesday, Mr. Modi will become the fifth Indian prime minister to address both houses of Congress.

The two countries finalized a deal that allows their forces to help each other with crucial supplies, and the United States formally recognized India as a major defense partner, which should allow India to buy some of the most sophisticated equipment in the United States arsenal.

India’s increasing willingness to form military partnerships with the United States is, in part, a result of its deepening worries about China. Recent patrols by Chinese submarines in the Bay of Bengal have unnerved New Delhi, and a 2014 visit to India by the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, did nothing to soothe Indian sensibilities, as Chinese troops made an incursion into border territory that India claims as its own.

China’s refusal in the months since to resolve the territorial claims at the heart of the standoff has quietly infuriated Indian officials.

Another reason Washington and New Delhi have grown so close is the increasingly testy relationship between the United States and Pakistan, India’s longtime rival. Although Pakistan is formally an ally of the United States, American officials have made clear that India has displaced Pakistan in American interests and hearts.

“We have much more to do with India today than has to do with Pakistan,” Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said in April. “There is important business with respect to Pakistan, but we have much more, a whole global agenda with India, agenda that covers all kinds of issues.”

「川普上台就完了」 印度總理狂簽與美協議

印度總理莫迪七日訪問白宮，預計簽署多份協議，加強與美國的安全事務合作和經貿往來。紐約時報指出，莫迪願意把印美長達數十年的冷淡放到一邊，鞏固與美國的關係，其中一個原因可能是擔心，如果美國共和黨總統參選人川普勝選，可能不會像美國現任總統歐巴馬那樣重視印度。

印度媒體持續關注川普的種族歧視言論和「美國優先」主張。川普絕少提到印度，但他宣告要收緊外來移民政策讓印度官方暗自擔憂。美國智庫「卡內基國際和平基金會」南亞領域資深研究員泰利斯說：「莫迪想在歐巴馬任期最後幾個月內盡可能爭取利多。」

莫迪這次訪美，預計會宣布印度將正式批准巴黎氣候協定。到目前為止，合計占全球溫室氣體排放量一半的多個國家已宣布，會將國會批准巴黎協定的文件提交給聯合國。只要合計占全球溫室氣體排放量五成五的多個國家批准，協定即生效。只要全球第三大溫室氣體排放國印度批准，就能確保巴黎協定在下任美國總統就職前生效。

川普曾揚言，一旦上台將退出巴黎協定，歐巴馬極力防堵這種情況發生。協定若生效，沒有一個簽署國能在四年內退出。

哈佛大學環境經濟學專案主任史岱文斯說：「如果美國國會在下任總統就職前批准巴黎協定，川普就不可能在第一任期內重新談判、甚至退出。」

另外，印度官方希望與美國達成協議，由美國提供資金，協助印度發展平價風電以及太陽能。兩國可望宣布軍事後勤協議，雙方在重要補給上互相支援。

白宮官員已表示支持印度參加「核子供應國組織」和「飛彈技術管制協定」，印度若加入這些組織，採購核子、飛彈等相關技術時，規定將大幅鬆綁。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/08/us/politics/narendra-modi-us-india.html

Video：Obama Discusses Climate Pact With Modi
President Obama met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India on Tuesday, moving closer toward finalizing the Paris agreement to limit greenhouse gases.
http://nyti.ms/1XBtQuK

2016-06-08．聯合報．A13．國際．編譯李京倫