US terms ties with India good, engagement with Pakistan constructive
PTI, Washington
Citing the Bush Administration's foreign policy success in developing better relations with Asian countries, the US has described its ties with India as "good" and its engagement with Pakistan as "constructive"."For many years, it was thought that it was not possible to have good relations with all of Asia's powers. It was thought that good relations with China came at the expense of good relations with our ally Japan that good relations with India came at the expense of constructive engagement with Pakistan. The President has changed this paradigm," US National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice said. "Our Asian alliances have never been stronger. Forces from Australia, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines are making important contributions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The United States has negotiated free trade agreements with Singapore and Australia. "We are working with the 21 nations of the Asia Pacific Cooperation Forum on an ambitious agenda designed to bolster economic growth and promote common security. And at the same time, we are building a candid, cooperative and constructive relationship with China that embraces our common interests but never loses sight of our considerable differences about values," Rice said speaking at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Sun Valley. She also stressed the need to deal with "freedom deficit" in the Middle East by spreading there the values of democracy. About Russia, she said Russia's democracy is "uneven" and its success not yet assured.
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