‘Ties stronger than ever’: PM Modi, President Biden set tone for Quad meet

WASHINGTON: PM Modi met US President Joe Biden at his residence in Wilmington, Delaware, on Saturday for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Quad summit. The bilateral was expected to feature the war in Ukraine and Modi's Kyiv visit as prominent points of discussion.
Virtually jettisoned by his own party, the forlorn US president welcomed Modi sans fanfare to his home in Wilmington, even as the world's eyes are on the Harris-Trump election spectacle.
Still, Biden struck an upbeat tone on bilateral relations following the meeting, posting on X, "The United States' partnership with India is stronger, closer, and more dynamic than any time in history. Prime Minister Modi, each time we sit down, I'm struck by our ability to find new areas of cooperation. Today was no different."
Modi was accompanied by external affairs minister S Jaishankar, foreign secretary Vikram Misri and Indian ambassador to the US Vinay Mohan Kwatra. National security adviser Ajit Doval wasn't part of the delegation for the bilateral; sources in New Delhi said he was preoccupied with elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
The US team included secretary of state Antony Blinken, assistant to the president for national security affairs Jake Sullivan and US ambassador to India Eric Garcetti.
US officials spun the hosting of the international engagement at Biden's home and at Archmere Academy, the prep school Biden and his children went to, as a "personal touch", even though a sense of the president's isolation and irrelevance is palpable in a country boiling with election fever.
US poll shadow over Quad meet outcome
The US president cut a lonely figure as he greeted Modi - who embraced him after alighting from his car. Biden led him by hand into the three-bedroom home he and his wife Jill bought nearly 50 years ago. A line of pumpkins were laid out on the patio to herald Halloween as Biden walked him into the house, with the First Lady Jill Biden (who sat in on a cabinet meeting on Friday, raising questions about its propriety) back at the White House where she was welcoming people for a revamped White House tour experience.
Modest digs compared to Trump's many ritzy pads, the Bidens' Delaware home has a standout feature: his prized 1967 Corvette Stingray parked in the garage.
The Quad meeting is expected to announce a cancer "moonshoot" aimed at finding cures for the dreaded disease, an expansion of the Quad fellows programme, and joint coast guard missions, among other advances.
China is the proverbial elephant (or dragon) in the room, despite American officials repeatedly asserting that the security dialogue involving US, India, Japan, and Australia is not aimed at any one country. Nevertheless, the gag is that Quad stands for Queueing Up Against Dragon.
But with US officials acknowledging on Saturday that each Quad country has its own approach to China, the dialogue, particularly bilateral exchanges, have taken an expansive turn, covering a range of issues beyond Indo-Pacific, although their salience is up in the air given the imminent political changes in Washington.
While a Kamala Harris victory in Nov is expected to see a degree of continuity in US foreign policy, a Trump win is likely to trigger a drastic and unpredictable recasting of global issues and relations. The victor, either Trump or Harris, is expected to attend the next Quad summit which India will host in 2025. In many ways, the ongoing Quad summit is Biden's international swan song. India was originally slated to host it this year, but Modi "graciously" consented to swapping the hosting privilege in deference to the Biden's schedule constraints, US officials said.
Earlier in the day, Modi landed in Philadelphia and was greeted by the Indian diaspora. A joyous desi garba reception was thrown for him at the Dupont Hotel in the US President's home state, which has a large Gujarati diaspora (large enough for Biden to once joke he can't walk into a Dunkin Donuts without hearing an Indian accent).