The following editorial recently appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

During President Barack Obama's recent visit to India, he was chief guest at the celebration of its grand Republic Day, the first time an American was given the honor.

The trip was another candle on the cake of the improved relations between the United States and India that its new prime minister, Narendra Modi, is building with Obama. Modi visited the United States in the fall.

Obama has many reasons to work on this relationship. India is a huge country with a population of 1.3 billion and an economy, although burdened with some constraints, that is growing. Bilateral annual trade stands at about $100 billion, which could rise given India's rapid development. It is new ground for the United States as India's barriers to more U.S. engagement fall.

In the past, for example, India has bought weapons from Russia. Its military market is estimated to be at least $100 million per year.

On the other hand, both India and Modi present potential problems for Washington. Modi wants to tie the United States into an alliance against growing Chinese influence in Asia. Obama must be careful that his efforts to pivot U.S. interest in the world to Asia doesn't become an anti-China campaign.

U.S. trade with China totals more than $500 billion a year and U.S. debt to the country exceeds $1 trillion. The prudent course of U.S. relations would be to share the region with China and India, not sign on with either against the other. India is easier to deal with than China, but America must not be wedged into a position of choosing between them.

The other tricky piece of U.S.-India relations is Modi himself. He comes from a Hindu nationalist political background and his record includes evidence of anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan tendencies. South Asia is an edgy region, with Pakistan a dangerous mess in some ways. Dealing with it over Afghanistan has confounded the United States. It also has nuclear weapons.

Modi needs to continue not to step on Pakistan's toes and the United States needs good relations with both.