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The US has dismissed as "incorrect" reports that it is linking India's efforts to seek more compensation from the Union Carbide in the Bhopal gas tragedy with the bilateral investment ties, saying it is committed to building a strong relationship with the country.
"The assertion that there was linkage between two separate and distinct issues is wrong, is incorrect," Benjamin Chang, Deputy Spokesperson of the National Security Council in the White House, told PTI.
Chang was responding to a question about reports in India that a senior US official has asked New Delhi not to persist with its efforts to seek more compensation for the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy victims from Union Carbide so as to avoid any "chilling" in the investment ties between the two countries.
Such a message was apparently conveyed by US Deputy National Security Advisor Michael Froman in an e-mail to Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, according to the reports.
Chang, however, refused to make any comment on the content of the communication, but asserted that making any link between two separate issues is incorrect.
"We are not going to comment on the specific contents on e-mails," Chang said, adding that any effort to conclude that there is any linkage between two separate issues is wrong.
"We certainly recognise the importance and sensitivity of this issue in India. We are committed to building a strong, broad and deep relationship between our two countries as you know," he said.