Singh embraced by US as ‘natural ally’

Describing India as a “natural ally” of the US, Barack Obama offered Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister, all the reassurance he sought on Tuesday that America would not sideline New Delhi in pursuit of its global partnership with China.

Mr Obama, who offered India the first full state visit of his administration, placed strong emphasis on the two countries’ shared values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and described the US-India relationship as “a defining partnership of the 21st century”. The US president, who accepted an invitation to visit India in 2010, also went out of his way to stress the personal warmth of his relations with Mr Singh, whom he said was “at his core a man of peace”. The evident warmth between the two leaders provided a stark contrast to the stilted exchanges between Mr Obama and Hu Jintao, China’s president, in Beijing last week.