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Eric Garcetti, a former Los Angeles mayor, appears before a Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing for his nomination to serve as US ambassador to India, in Washington in December 2021. Photo: Los Angeles Times/TNS
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Senate confirms Eric Garcetti as US ambassador to India after 2-year delay

  • Ex-Los Angeles mayor’s nomination succeeds amid sexual harassment lawsuit as seven Republicans join most Democrats in backing Biden confidante
  • Development welcomed after concerns mounted over unfilled position while US seeks to counter China in region
India
Khushboo Razdan
Khushboo Razdanin New York
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After a fraught two years without a full-time American ambassador in New Delhi, a central cog in Washington’s strategy to counter China, US President Joe Biden’s nominee finally secured approval in a tight vote on the Senate floor on Wednesday.
Former Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti, whom Biden tapped as his envoy to India in July 2021, was confirmed by a 52-42 vote after winning over seven Republicans even as three Democrats opposed him. Democrats in the Senate hold a narrow 51-49 majority.
“The United States-India relationship is extremely important, and it’s a very good thing we now have an ambassador,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. The chamber voted earlier on Wednesday by an identical 52-42 margin to limit debate on Garcetti’s nomination.
The breakthrough came just three months before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposed visit to Washington. Dhruva Jaishankar, executive director of the Washington-based Observer Research Foundation America, described the development as “welcome news for an important year in India-US relations”.
US President Joe Biden (left) embraces Eric Garcetti during a visit to California in October last year. Garcetti endorsed Biden early in the president’s 2020 campaign for the White House. Photo: Los Angeles Times/TNS
With an eye on Beijing, the US has striven to deepen its cooperation with India. The two countries now collaborate on strategic initiatives such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a four-nation bloc that includes Japan and Australia and aims to counter China’s rising influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
India is also a member of the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, established to mitigate the effects of China’s economic “coercion” of neighbouring Southeast Asian nations.
Many experts had expressed concerns that the delayed appointment of a full-time envoy could prove detrimental to US interests in the region.
Kenneth Juster, the last US ambassador to India serving under former President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2021, described the delay as “less than ideal” last October when the State Department announced a fifth temporary appointment to the country.

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But Jaishankar said the two sides had made “considerable progress without a full-time ambassador”. He added that while the delay was “avoidable and unnecessary” it “wasn’t fatal to US interests in the region”.

Garcetti enjoyed Biden’s steadfast backing throughout the nomination, having endorsed the president early in his 2020 campaign for the White House. But the former mayor’s candidacy languished amid bipartisan concerns over his handling of a sexual harassment lawsuit against one of his former advisers.

Last week, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 13-8 to advance Garcetti’s nomination to the full chamber after Republican Senators Todd Young of Indiana and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee supported Biden’s pick.

Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida and a member of the panel, accused Garcetti of ignoring “credible sexual assault accusations in his prior office”.

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US joins high-altitude military exercise with India near its Himalayan border with China

US joins high-altitude military exercise with India near its Himalayan border with China

Naomi Seligman, Garcetti’s former communications director when he served as mayor, called her one-time boss “unfit to become an ambassador” during a recent interview. Seligman alleged that Garcetti had witnessed his former deputy chief of staff “touch people, hug people and kiss people”.

However, Garcetti testified at his confirmation hearing in December 2021 that he had “never witnessed, nor was it brought to my attention, the behaviour that’s been alleged”.

In March last year, two Republican senators – Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, both from Iowa – placed a hold on the nomination. In a 23-page report submitted in May, Grassley asserted that Garcetti “likely knew or should have known” about his aide’s purported misconduct.

According to a disclosure report filed with the Senate, Garcetti’s parents last year hired a lobbying firm to help break the congressional impasse and bring their son’s nomination to a vote. They paid about US$30,000 from April 1 to June 30 to McGuireWoods, a law firm.

China and India affirm progress in first face-to-face border talks since 2019

After the long-delayed Senate nod, Garcetti should not presume a warm welcome in New Delhi.

Some Modi supporters voiced anger after video clips of Garcetti’s confirmation hearing surfaced on social media in which he pledged to make human rights issues and discrimination against minorities the “core” of his engagement with India.

Shashank, a former foreign secretary of India, warned on Tuesday that Garcetti had “made his life difficult and it will become even more difficult when he lands”, adding: “There are going to be demonstrations, agitations against him”.

Prominent Indian army veteran Brigadier V Mahalingam said on Twitter: “Question is, do we need him in the country? If not, why accept him?”
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