Washington, Sep 2 (IANS) The United States has made clear it does have specific security requirements for flights going to the US and was committed to ensuring that those are met despite any reported concerns from Indian officials.
‘We’ve addressed, and in fact, shared our regret over some of these incidents involving high-level Indian diplomats here within the United States,’ State Department spokesperson told reporters Thursday in response to a question.
‘But we do have specific security requirements, and we’re committed to ensuring that those are met, but obviously recognizing these individuals’ importance and rank and significance,’ he said.
But Toner said he was not aware about reports that some in India were not pleased at the way those boarding flights to the US were being treated within their own country.
Asked about reports that a WikiLeaks cable refers to State Department justifying such second screening of flights coming from India to the US, he said: ‘Well, I appreciate the context, but I certainly won’t speak to any allegedly classified information.’
In response to a question about reports that one of India’s amphibious assault ships was confronted by a Chinese warship in the South China Sea after its scheduled visit to a Vietnamese port in July, Toner noted ‘that the Government of India has publicly denied that there was any sort of confrontation.’
On the US position on the South China Sea, Toner said the US supports ‘a collaborative diplomatic process by all claimants to resolve their disputes. And again, I would just stress that we want a collaborative diplomatic process here.’
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
