Goa, Aug. 6 -- Indian-American Republican leader Nikki Haley has urged the United States to protect its strategic partnership with India and avoid favoring China, following former President Donald Trump's recent criticism of New Delhi over trade and energy ties with Russia.

In a strongly worded post on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday, Haley said, "India should not be buying oil from Russia. But China, an adversary and the number one buyer of Russian and Iranian oil, got a 90-day tariff pause. Don't give China a pass and burn a relationship with a strong ally like India."

Haley, who served as the US Ambassador to the United Nations during Trump's first term and was the first Indian-American to hold a cabinet-level position, emphasized th...