US ties with Pakistan not at expense of India, says Rubio

The US sees an opportunity to expand its strategic relationship with Pakistan but it will not be at the expense of its historic and important ties with India, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said.

Ahead of his meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Kuala Lumpur on Monday (October 27), Rubio, referring to India’s energy ties with Russia, said New Delhi has already expressed a desire to diversify its procurement of crude oil.

‘Indians are very mature’

Rubio was interacting with journalists ahead of his trip to Malaysia for the ASEAN summit, when, to a question on the US’s ties with Pakistan, he said New Delhi is “concerned for obvious reasons” and that Washington’s relationship with Islamabad will not be at the expense of the ties with New Delhi.

“But I think they (India) have to understand we have to have relations with a lot of different countries. We see an opportunity to expand our strategic relationship with Pakistan,” he said.

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“I think the Indians are very mature when it comes to diplomacy and things of that nature. Look, they have some relationships with countries that we don’t have relationships with. So, it’s part of a mature, pragmatic foreign policy,” he said.

“I don’t think anything we’re doing with Pakistan comes at the expense of our relationship or friendship with India, which is deep, historic, and important,” Rubio added.

Russian oil

The US-Pakistan ties have witnessed an upswing in the last six months, especially after US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Pakistan Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir following the military conflict between India and Pakistan in May.

While India rejected Trump’s repeated claims that he brokered a ceasefire between the two countries, Pakistan credited the US president for ending the hostilities between the two countries.

Also read: Testing time for India's foreign policy: Can Modi govt rise to the challenge?

To another question on whether India will be willing to really shove off its purchases of Russian oil for a trade deal with the US, Rubio said New Delhi has already expressed an interest in diversifying its oil portfolio.

“If they diversified their portfolio, the more they buy it from us, the more they’ll buy it from someone else. But I wouldn’t prejudge or — I’m not negotiating trade deals. So, I’m not going to speak on that,” he said.

“But I know they’ve (India) already expressed a desire to diversify their oil portfolio, even before all of this came up. So, obviously the more we sell them, the less they’ll buy from someone else. And, but we’ll see where we wind up on all that,” he said.

(With agency inputs)