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BIG STORY JULY 30, 2021 | The Indian Eye 6
good in defence of a free and New Delhi.
open Indo-Pacific and free and Lauding Indian democra-
open world,” he said. cy, Blinken said that it is pow-
Earlier, Blinken participat- ered by free-thinking citizens.
ed in a meeting of represen- “Our shared values strengthen
tatives of civil society organi- the US and India relationship.
sations in the national capital Like our own, India’s democra-
and said the two nations share cy is powered by its free-think-
a commitment to democratic ing citizens. We applaud that.
values. “I was pleased to meet We view Indian democracy as
civil society leaders today. The a force for good in defence of a
US and India share a commit- free and open Indo-Pacific and
ment to democratic values; this a free and open world.
is part of the bedrock of our re- He also said that no democ-
lationship and reflective of In- racy regardless of how old or
dia’s pluralistic society and his- large has it all figured out. “As
tory of harmony. Civil society friends (India and the US), we
helps advance these values,” Antony J. Blinken calling on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in talk about these issues, we talk
Blinken tweeted. New Delhi on Wednesday. (ANI) about challenges we face in re-
While speaking about In- newing and strengthening our
dia’s human rights record, he democracies. Humbly we can
said, “We talk about in our learn from each other. No de-
founding document, search mocracy regardless of how old
for a more perfect union that or large has it all figured out,”
means we’re not perfect. No said Blinken.
democracy regardless of how Setting the tone of his India
large or old has it all figured visit with a big political message
out”. Blinken, who is on his to China, US top diplomat Ant-
maiden visit to India said, “We ony Blinken on Wednesday met
also recognise that every de- Tibetan Buddhist monk Geshe
mocracy, starting with our own Dorji Damdul, current direc-
is a work in progress and when tor of Tibet House in Delhi.
we discuss these issues, I cer- Damdul, the former in-
tainly do it from starting point terpreter of Tibetan spiritu-
of humility.” al leader Dalai Lama, was a
When asked about ‘have part of a group of civil society
you addressed the Indian Gov- leaders who met US Secre-
ernment’s backslide on issues tary of State Blinken early in
like human rights, US Sec- The US Secretary of State meets National Security Advisor Ajit Doval (ANI) the day. Blinken is on a two-
retary of State Blinken said, day visit to India. Damdul is
“India and the US are two of a director of Tibet House,
the biggest democracies in the which was founded in 1965 by
world. We talk about in our the Dalai Lama to preserve
founding document, search and disseminate the unique
for a more perfect union that cultural heritage of Tibet.
means we’re not perfect. Our The meet is expected to irk
quest is to get closer to the ide- Beijing, which considers Tibet
als we set for ourselves. as an integral part of China.
At times, the challenge is The meeting took place in the
painful and ugly, but as de- backdrop of strained Beijing
mocracies, we do it openly. No and Washington ties.
democracy regardless of how The United States has been
large/old has it all figured out. raising the issue of human
“We have seen challenges rights violations in Tibet at var-
faced by democracy in the past ious platforms.
and it faces today, but this is Recently, US Deputy Sec-
common to all democracies. I retary of State Wendy Sherman
mentioned this earlier, We talk visited China to meet Chinese
about in our founding docu- S Jaishankar and Antony Blinken at Hyderabad House in New Delhi (ANI) officials. She raised concerns
ment, search for a more per- about human rights violations
fect union that means that we get closer to the ideals we set the end of talks with his Indi- in Tibet, Hong Kong and East-
are not perfect. Our quest is to for ourselves,” Blinken said at an counterpart S Jaishankar in Continued on next page... >>
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