After Biden hosts Modi, pressure builds for U.S. businesses to switch allegiance from China to India

As President Joe Biden wined and dined India Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an official State Dinner, corporate America came under increasing pressure to switch allegiances from China to India.

"It would be nice to see corporate America shift much of their manufacturing from China into India," Georgia GOP Rep. Austin Scott who attended the dinner told the Thursday edition of the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show.

"China is across the border in India today as we speak," he said. "So there are conflicts from time to time-armed conflicts between India and China. China is across their border. They are obviously an important strategic partner of ours."

Thursday was Modi's second address to the joint session of Congress and his first official state visit to the U.S.

The prime minister visited during a time of rising tensions between China and the United States, specifically with security concerns that include the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down earlier this year and privacy concerns about the China-based app TikTok. 

"The dark clouds of coercion and confrontation are casting their shadow in the Indo-Pacific," Modi told Congress, according to NBC News. "The stability of the region has become one of the central concerns of our partnership. We share a vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific."

"Now, the United States has become one of our most important defense partners," he stated, which resulted in a standing ovation from elected officials. 

One of the challenging aspects of America's relationship with India is that the U.S. is attempting to put a stranglehold on Russian President Vladimir Putin in the midst of the Ukraine war. Meanwhile India has been purchasing a lot of cheap Russian oil and selling it on the market. 

"I think there was a period in the early months after the Russian invasion when there was a lot of concern in Washington about India wrapping up Russian oil," Quincy Institute Senior Research Fellow Sarang Shidore told "Just the News, No Noise."

"But India has been able to actually secure its interest because it's still quite a poor country in terms of about half the country has a lot of poverty," he continued. "They made the case that we really need cheaper oil for our economy. If our economy is very weak, it's not going to work very well against China."

Some Democrats, including Democrat New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez boycotted Modi's dinner and called on her colleagues to join her. 

"I will be boycotting Prime Minister Modi's address to Congress tomorrow, and I encourage my colleagues who stand for pluralism, tolerance, and freedom of the press to join me in doing the same," she wrote in a statement on Twitter Wednesday.

She added in the statement that Modi has a history of religious freedom violations and going after journalists unfairly. 

Other Democrats that did not attend included Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mi) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN).

"Prime Minister Modi has a shameful history of committing human rights abuses, undermining democracy, and targeting journalists," Bush wrote on Twitter. "In solidarity with the communities that have been harmed by Modi and his policies, I will be boycotting his joint address to Congress."

Shidore emphasized the importance of this meeting, especially in the midst of China rising in power.

"We are at a point where India and the United States are really close partners," he said. "In some ways, you could also say they're not allies. There is not a mutual defense commitment at all, legally, but they are very close security partners. And in some way, you can say that they are quality allies with respect to China. At least they have differences on some other issues. But on China, they do not want Asia to be dominated by China. They want a multipolar Asia."