By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says in building a “most comprehensive engagement” with India, the Obama administration was continuing with the “good work” done by his predecessor George Bush.
“We’re building on some of the good work that’s been done in a bipartisan way with India, starting with my husband (Bill Clinton)” the former first lady said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday. “And in fact, in this case, continuing with President Bush with India. So that we have now announced the most comprehensive engagement we’ve ever had with that country,” she said.
Asked what she meant when she said during her trip to Asia that “the United States is back and we’re ready to lead”, Clinton said: “Well, what I meant was that in many parts of the world, the priorities that were pursued the last eight years did not seem to include them.
“So just going, for example, to Asia, as I did on my first trip, as I just did, was viewed as a very positive statement of participation.”
When told that Obama Administration policy in Asia was not that different from the Bush Administration policy in Asia Clinton disagreed. “I mean, part of what we have done is to organise ourselves so that we can concentrate on many important issues at the same time.”
“And I think the feeling on the part of much of the world was that the prior administration, for understandable reasons, focused so much on some of the specific issues, like Iraq, et cetera, that really grabbed it and required a lot of attention, that much of the rest of the world felt that they were kind of second tier.”
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])