THREAD: With reports coming in that President-Elect @JoeBiden is expected to name @ABlinken as his nominee for Secretary of State, there's interest among India-watchers on how a Secretary Blinken would approach India. Luckily, we have some preliminary indications.

From this July 2020 event at @HudsonInstitute:

More from the July 2020 event at @HudsonInstitute, on how a Biden administration would engage India on issue such as Kashmir and CAA:

Blinken also participated in this webinar on U.S.-India Friendship for a webinar hosted by the Biden campaign for India's Independence Day. He speaks, alongside @RichardRVerma and @NishaBiswal, on U.S.-India relations at around 24:45.

Some select quotes from the Independence Day webinar:

Blinken: "In a Biden administration, we would be an advocate for India to play a leading role in international institutions and that includes helping India get a seat on a United Nations Security Council."

Blinken: "We have a common challenge which has to deal with an increasingly assertive China across the board, including its aggression toward India at the Line of Actual Control but also using its economic might to coerce others and reap unfair advantage"

Blinken quoted @JoeBiden from 2006, who said at the time, "My dream is that in 2020, the two closest nations in the world will be India and the United States."

Following up on that quote, Blinken said: "We are not quite there, but it's a terrific vision... Joe Biden sees the United States in India as natural partners, and that's the vision he would help to make real as president."

Blinken also lambasted the Trump approach: "President Trump. I think his approach to India has been basically full of photo ops. In short, on actual, real demonstrable progress. He takes a transactional approach, including a transactional trade war, rather than partnership."