India “is not Russia”, and China has its own set of problems, a top United States official said, stressing that all those are taken into context by Washington while dealing with respective countries.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan made the remark when asked about the Joe Biden administration giving a “pass” to India and China, especially in terms of giving ‘economic support’ to Russia.
“We have taken a variety of actions to protect America's national security vis-a-vis threats from the PRC...We have an entire strategy with respect to our technology export controls to make sure that American technology cannot be used against us,” Sullivan said while addressing a briefing on Thursday (September 21).
He said that President Biden is the first person to take some of those steps while claiming that no previous administrations have done so.
The NSA said that India is “not Russia” while Xi Jinping-led country possesses its own set of challenges.
“…where we have concerns with India, whether it comes to issues related to the very watchlist that you’re describing or otherwise, we make those concerns clear. And we defend U.S. interests, as we do with every country in the world,” Sullivan said.
“Now, India is not Russia, and China has its own set of challenges that we deal with in its own context. So, of course, there is going to be differences in how we deal with countries one by one,” he added.
The NSA emphasised that the US will take action to defend the American people’s security from any sort of threats.
“But the idea — the North Star of this administration is: If you represent a threat to the American people’s security, prosperity, or basic sense of fairness, we will take action to defend that. I think our record on that — across multiple countries, including the ones you’ve mentioned — is quite clear over the last two and a half years,” Sullivan said.
(With ANI inputs)
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