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August 18, 2001
0930 IST

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US wants robust relationship
with India: Armitage

The United States envisages a robust relationship with India as there were 'a lot of reasons' for the two countries to engage with each other, US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has said.

"India is a nuclear power. There are a lot of reasons we ought to engage with India, and we are going to," Armitage told a media round table in Sydney (Australia) on Friday.

"It would be unnatural for the world's oldest democracy to not have a more reasonable, in fact robust, relationship with the world's largest democracy, India."

"It would be unreasonable for a multi-ethnic, multi-religious democratic federation like the US not to have a more robust relationship with a multi-ethnic, multi-religious democratic federation like India. We've got everything going for it," Armitage added.

To what extent the increased engagement with India should be interpreted as an attempt to establish a strategic counterweight to China, he said "You should put zero value on that (the China connection)."

"I think whenever you try to establish a relationship with a country based on a third country, then you are doomed to failure. It is not a sustainable relationship. It is not something you can build on," Armitage said.

He showered lavish praise on Indian-Americans and said the community had become a helpful factor in American politics.

"We have a very vibrant and active Indian-American population, very high-tech oriented, very organised, very politically astute. They have become a very helpful and new factor in American politics," he said.

RELATED REPORT:
Armitage hints at early lifting of sanctions on India

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