Washington. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is, on many counts, a curious choice for President Joe Biden to honor with a state visit.

Since Russia's Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine 16 months ago, India has boosted its economy by purchasing increasing quantities of cheap Russian oil.

Human rights groups and political opponents have accused Modi of stifling dissent and introducing divisive policies that discriminate against Muslims and other minorities. And India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, has espoused a worldview in which there are no allies or friends, only “frenemies.”

But Biden, who will welcome Modi to the White House on Thursday for a state visit, has made clear he sees U.S. ties to India — the world's biggest democracy and one of its fastest-growing economies — as a defining relationship. 

New Delhi, as Biden sees it, will be essential to addressing some of the most difficult global challenges in coming years, including climate change, disruptions related to artificial intelligence, and China’s growing power in the Indo-Pacific.

“Now, we know that India and the United States are big, complicated countries,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the U.S.-India Business Council in Washington ahead of Modi's visit. 

“We certainly have work to do to advance transparency, to promote market access, to strengthen our democracies, to unleash the full potential of our people. But the trajectory of this partnership is unmistakable, and it is filled with promise.”

Much is at stake for both sides in the Indian leader's three-day visit to the U.S., which begins Wednesday with a stop in New York, where Modi will lead an international yoga day event at the United Nations.

Biden wants to bring India closer to the United States as the administration tilts its foreign policy toward Asia and looks to build partnerships in the region in the face of an ascendant China.

Modi, for his part, is trying to usher in a more prosperous era for his nation of 1.4 billion, delivering on a promise he made when he swept into office more than nine years ago.

The Indian prime minister hopes to strengthen U.S.-India economic and military ties. He also has his own worries about Chinese military activities, along the Himalayan border and in the Indian Ocean. India has been locked in a long-running standoff with China in the rugged mountainous area of Ladakh, where each side has stationed tens of thousands of military personnel backed by artillery, tanks and fighter jets.

“As China has risen, India and the U.S. both need one another and the U.S. needs more partners in the Indo-Pacific,” said Jitendra Nath Misra, a professor of diplomatic practice at the O.P. Jindal Global University and a former Indian ambassador. 

“They can’t do it alone anymore because China is catching up with the U.S., and the Chinese economy is significantly larger than India’s. So, there is a congruence of geopolitical interests here.”

There are plenty of signs that the relationship already has taken a leap forward.

Trade between the U.S. and India in 2022 climbed to a record $191 billion. The Indian diaspora in the U.S. stands at nearly 5 million and has become an economic, cultural and political powerhouse. Biden has sought to reinvigorate the Quad, an international partnership of the U.S., Australia, India and Japan. And U.S. defense sales to India have risen from near zero in 2008 to over $20 billion in 2020.