The confirmation of Marco Rubio as the Secretary of State is a welcome move for Bharat. With Rubio at the helm, relations between Washington and New Delhi are set to deepen further.
Rubio became the first member of the Cabinet of President Donald Trump to be confirmed. In fact, he was confirmed as the Secretary of State unanimously.
New Delhi would welcome this move as Rubio is known for his pro-India stance. The 53-year-old had introduced a bill in Congress that proposed to treat India on par with its allies such as South Korea, NATO, Japan and Israel. He moved the bill and cited its importance when it comes to technology transfer and support New Delhi in response to growing threats to its territorial integrity.
Rubio on Pakistan
Rubio’s views about the rogue Pakistan nation are a well-known fact. While passing the bill in Congress, Rubio had sought to bar Pakistan from receiving security assistance if it is found to have sponsored terrorism against India. All 99 senators including Rubio voted in favour of the bill.
The passing of the bill and with Rubio being confirmed as the Secretary of State, Pakistan will have much to deal with. New Delhi would in fact push harder to put out more proof on how Pakistan has been sponsoring terrorism. Even in his last term, Donald Trump had issued a slew of warnings to Pakistan. Trump felt that Pakistan was receiving funds from the US, but the same has been diverted to undertake subversive acts.
Rubio who is the first ever Latino to be US Secretary of State will keep a close watch on Pakistan and the developments over there. Islamabad will have a lot of answering to do and may have to make amends to escape the eye of the US. Further its relations with China are also quite challenged currently given the number of terror attacks that are taking place. China is upset that Islamabad’s scant regard to tackle terror is hurting Beijing’s business interests. Further many Chinese nationals who are working on several projects in Pakistan have also been killed in terror attacks.
China had even proposed sending its own army soldiers to protect its interests in Pakistan. However this is something Islamabad is weary of and it has repeatedly assured Beijing that it would do more to combat terror.
Apart from Pakistan, China too would watch Rubio closely. Considered to be a hawkish US Senator, Rubio has been banned from entering China which had sanctioned him in 2020. However, Rubio’s China policy would now depend a lot on Donald Trump’s thinking. There are certain decisions that Trump made which signalled that the policy on China could be different when compared to his first stint. The 70 day reprieve given to TikTok and the decision to postpone imposing tariffs of China are signals of a policy shift.
The Bangladesh situation
While Pakistan is buried deep into its self-created problems, New Delhi would expect more from the US when comes to dealing with the problem in Bangladesh.
When the Biden administration was in power, Bangladesh had a field day and the situation went on to turn grave given the meaningless violence that took place. The Trump administration would need to act fast on the emerging situation in Bangladesh as the Muhammad Yunus government is proposing changes that would soon make it into an official radical nation. Rubio’s thought process on Bangladesh is not expected to be any different from Pakistan. The US does realise the importance of its relations with New Delhi and hence it is of utmost need that the region remains stable.
During his campaign, Trump had spoken against Bangladesh and highlighted that the massacre of Hindus cannot go on unabated. He promised action once in office. Echoing a similar sentiment was Tulsi Gabbard tipped to become Director of National Intelligence.
Recently American Congressman Tanedar said that the time has come for the US Congress to act.
“The crowds of the majority have destroyed Hindu temples, Hindu deities and Hindus who are practising their religion in peace. The time has now come for the United States Congress to act and the US government to act … every possible tool in our hands needs to be used to ensure that such atrocities in Bangladesh against Hindus stop right away,” he said.
“Since 1971, when Bangladesh got its freedom from Pakistan, there have been numerous occasions where minority Hindus have been attacked. More recently, we have seen a Hindu priest being arrested and his lawyer was murdered,” he further added.
