US official blames India, China for surging oil prices
After President Bush's statement on Indian middle class, White House has faulted India and China for the surge in oil prices.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: The perpetually outraged in the political spectrum on Tuesday got fresh ammunition for their anti-US rhetoric when the White House faulted India and China for the surge in oil prices. The statement comes three days after politicians here interpreted a statement of President Bush ��� growing prosperity and increased consumption in India was one of the factor contributing to the food shortage ��� as a US diktat to eat less.
The US embassy here and White House have sought to calm the frayed nerves over President Bush's remarks saying the US saw "higher living standards" of people in India as a "good thing". "Many developing nations like India or China are having greatly increased demand, which obviously is having an impact on price," agency reports from Washington quoting White House deputy spokesman Scott Stanzel said.
Three days ago, president Bush had referred the case of Indian middle class to argue that its demand for better nutrition was a factor in pushing the global food prices up. "There are 350 million people in India who are classified as middle class. That's bigger than America. Their middle class is larger than our entire population. And when you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food, and so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up," president Bush had said.
Responding to a question on the crude oil price crossing $120-mark, the spokesman said on Tuesday that it showed the rising demand for oil around the world. "There are a lot of different ways that we can reduce our dependence, but we have more to do and it's just ��� and also I would point out that, obviously, the demand for oil is growing around the world," he said.
Clarifying president Bush's remarks on Indian's food habits, Mr Stanzel said: "We think that it is a good thing that countries are developing; that more and more people have higher and higher standards of living. The point that I think was to be made is that as you increase your standard of living, the food that you eat can venture more into meats that require more commodities to feed the livestock which, you know, uses more of those commodities, whether it���s corn, or wheat, or other commodities and it drives up the price. So that is just a function of how those food prices that we���ve seen spike around the world," Mr Stanzel said.
The US embassy here and White House have sought to calm the frayed nerves over President Bush's remarks saying the US saw "higher living standards" of people in India as a "good thing". "Many developing nations like India or China are having greatly increased demand, which obviously is having an impact on price," agency reports from Washington quoting White House deputy spokesman Scott Stanzel said.
Three days ago, president Bush had referred the case of Indian middle class to argue that its demand for better nutrition was a factor in pushing the global food prices up. "There are 350 million people in India who are classified as middle class. That's bigger than America. Their middle class is larger than our entire population. And when you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food, and so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up," president Bush had said.
Responding to a question on the crude oil price crossing $120-mark, the spokesman said on Tuesday that it showed the rising demand for oil around the world. "There are a lot of different ways that we can reduce our dependence, but we have more to do and it's just ��� and also I would point out that, obviously, the demand for oil is growing around the world," he said.
Clarifying president Bush's remarks on Indian's food habits, Mr Stanzel said: "We think that it is a good thing that countries are developing; that more and more people have higher and higher standards of living. The point that I think was to be made is that as you increase your standard of living, the food that you eat can venture more into meats that require more commodities to feed the livestock which, you know, uses more of those commodities, whether it���s corn, or wheat, or other commodities and it drives up the price. So that is just a function of how those food prices that we���ve seen spike around the world," Mr Stanzel said.
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