Sawt Falasteen - Rubio in India to renew ties after Trump's China lovefest

Rubio, a devout Catholic, began his four-day, four-city tour by touring the headquarters of Mother Teresa's charity in the eastern city of Kolkata and praying over her tomb.

Wearing a yellow garland over his suit, Rubio, who was visiting India for the first time in his life, smiled before an assembly of nuns, all clad in the late humanitarian's signature white and blue saris.

"Rubio spoke about aiding the homeless, terminally ill and those afflicted by leprosy," Sister Marie Juan of Missionaries of Charity told reporters after his hour-and-a-half-long visit.

"He was happy to pray and we were also happy to have him," she said.

Sergio Gor, the US ambassador to India and also a Catholic, later posted that the visit showed that the countries' relationship was based "not only on strong policies, but also on shared values."

Rubio, who is accompanied by his wife Jeanette, then flew to New Delhi where he was scheduled to meet later Saturday with Modi.

Before leaving on Tuesday, Rubio will also take part in a meeting of foreign ministers of the so-called Quad -- Australia, India, Japan and the United States -- four democracies seen as a counterweight to China's presence in the Indian Ocean.

China has long been suspicious of the Quad, calling it an attempt to encircle it, and has chastised India in the past for taking part in it.

But Rubio's trip comes as President Donald Trump is shaking up traditional assumptions about US priorities.

Trump paid a state visit to China last week, where he hailed the reception he received from President Xi Jinping despite limited concrete announcements.

Trump in Beijing spoke of the United States and China being a "G2" -- a formulation that had fallen out of favour in recent years as US allies fear being shut out of Washington's dealings with a rising China.

- Eye on energy -

While Trump rarely raises human rights, some elements of his base have expressed concerns over the treatment of Christians under the Hindu nationalist Modi, making Rubio's choice of first stop highly symbolic.

Rights groups say there has been a rise in attacks on minority Christians across India, including vandalism of churches, since Modi came to power in 2014.

The government rejects the claims as exaggerated and politically motivated.

Ahead of the trip, Rubio called India a "great ally, great partner" and said the United States would be looking to find ways to sell it more oil.

India's fast-growing economy is reliant on energy imports and like many countries has been rattled by the US-Israeli attack on Iran, which retaliated by choking off the strategic Strait of Hormuz, sending global oil prices soaring.

India has historic ties with Iran but also a growing relationship with Israel, which Modi visited just days before the war.

But the conflict has also seen the re-emergence as a key US partner of India's traditional adversary Pakistan, which has positioned itself as a mediator, with its powerful army chief flying Friday to Tehran.

The United States was a Cold War partner of Pakistan but increasingly took a distance as it prioritized relations with India, seeing the world's largest democracy as a natural partner in a global order marked by China's rise.

Trump has turned away from long-held assumptions and warmed to Pakistan, which has lavished him with praise over his diplomacy in its short war with India last year, and has welcomed a cryptocurrency firm owned by the US president's family.

Modi irritated Trump by not crediting him with ending the war, in which India struck Pakistan following the massacre of mostly Hindu civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Trump imposed punitive tariffs on India shortly afterwards, at rates higher than he had put on China, but they were eased under a trade deal.

N.Shalabi--SF-PST