US President Donald Trump on Friday expressed his readiness once again to “help” India and China resolve their border situation, which he described as “very nasty”.
Answering questions at a White House briefing, the president also expressed confidence that Indian Americans will vote for him in the November 3 elections citing the “incredible” turnout at the Howdy Modi event in Houston last September.
India and China are “going at it pretty good on the border, as you know, it’s been very nasty, it’s been a very nasty situation,” the president said at the briefing, segueing into the conflict in response to a question about his campaign’s outreach to Indian American voters spearheaded by his son Donald Trump Jr and his partner Kimberley Guilfoyle.
He added, “We stand ready to help with respect to China and India if we can do anything we would love to get involved and help. And we are talking to both countries about that.”
The American President had extended an offer to mediate the standoff way back in May. “We have informed both India and China that the United States is ready, willing and able to mediate or arbitrate their now raging border dispute,” he had written in a tweet. Both sides turned him down.
Trump had offered earlier to mediate between India and Pakistan following the spike in tensions after the Pulwama terrorist attack in February 2019 by Pakistan-based terrorists.
India had rejected that offer also, and swiftly.
Responding to a question about his expectations from Indian American voters, the president said, “We have great support from India. We have great support from Prime Minister Modi and I would think that Indian people would be voting for Trump.”
Trump referred to the Howdy Modi event in Houston to back his optimism. “We had an event in Houston, as you know, and it was a fantastic event. I was invited by Prime Minister Modi … it was it was it was incredible. It was actually incredible and the Prime Minister could not have been more generous.”