India rejects Trump's offer to mediate with China

India has swiftly turned down President Donald Trump's offer to “help” mediate an end to border skirmishes with China, saying that New Delhi follows a bilateral approach to deal with issues.

“Whatever issues we have with any of our neighbours, we have always adopted a bilateral approach to dealing with these issues,” Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said at a news briefing to wrap up Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to the US to meet with President Trump after his return to the White House for a second non-consecutive second term.

Addressing a joint news conference with the Prime Minister after talks, President Trump had said, “I look at India, I do see the skirmishes on the border, which are quite vicious, and I guess they continue to go on.”

He added: “If I could be of help, I'd love to help because that should be stopped. That's been going on for a long time and it's quite violent. It's quite violent.”

This was not an off-the-cuff offer. Trump had offered to mediate between India and China in his first term, as well as between India and Pakistan. India had turned him down just as politely then as on Thursday. This, however, may not be the last such remarks from the American president on this issue as he seeks to shape his legacy of being a "peacemaker".

Foreign Secretary Misri also responded at length on other issues, such as tariffs, which was a notable discordant note heard many times from Trump over the four hours that he spent with the Prime Minister.

“We've been hearing about tariffs for quite some time, and in today's discussion between the two sides, this issue came up quite normally in the talks between the two leaders,” Misri said, adding, “They both had their perspectives. But what's more remarkable is, or what's worth looking at, is the fact that we have a way forward on this issue in terms of the undertaking to discuss or start discussions on a bilateral trading agreement, and this may actually be a very good opportunity to take forward something and conclude something which was actually foreseen in the first Trump administration.”

The two sides had worked on a trade deal for Trump and PM Modi to sign during the former’s visit to India in February 2020 but the negotiators were unable to take the talks across the finish line.

The joint statement issued by the two sides after the meeting of the leaders restarts the talks with the deadline of the fall of this year. “So we are looking at the next seven to eight months to get this done, and today, in a sense, both teams have got the instructions or the indications from the highest levels to start engaging on this,” the foreign secretary said.

About President Trump’s offer of F-35s (the most advanced fighter jets in the US-led Western military) to India during his remarks at the joint news briefing, Misri said, “This is currently something that's at the stage of a proposal. But I don't think the formal process in this regard has started yet well.”