Lawmakers meet with Indian Prime Minister Modi amid tensions with China

A bipartisan group of lawmakers led by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) met with newly reelected Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Thursday.

In a post on the social platform X, Modi said he had “a very good exchange of views with friends” from Congress and added that he “deeply values the strong bipartisan support in advancing India- US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership.”

The delegation also held meetings with India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

The meeting with Modi, who was reelected to a third term in June, comes a day after the lawmakers met with the Dalai Lama. China, which does not recognize officials from the Tibetan government, including the Dalai Lama, issued a strong rebuke of the meeting.

The lawmakers said their visit was meant to highlight the Tibet Dispute Act passed last week that encouraged China to heal ties with the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan leaders.

The meeting also comes on the heels of a joint statement by both the United States and India committing to an increasing cooperation with each other on technology and defense innovation.

India and the U.S. have grown closer recently, as both countries eye China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region with caution. Modi was honored with a state visit last year, where he and President Biden called the India-U.S. relationship among the most consequential in the world.

The delegation to India included former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Ami Bera (D-Calif.), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) and Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.).

The Associated Press contributed.