The White House also sought to calm the frayed nerves in India to Bush’s remarks that the rising prosperity of it’s large middle class is contributing to rising foods prices around the world, saying the US saw “higher living standards” of people there as a “good thing”.

“Many developing nations like India or China are having greatly increased demand, which obviously is having an impact on price,” White House Deputy Spokesman Scott Stanzel said at a briefing responding to a question on the crude oil price crossing US $120-mark.

“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. Asked to clarify Bush’s remarks on Indian’s food habits, 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.”

Food prices row

However, he apparently did not go back on Bush’s point that Indian food habits were contributing to spiralling food prices, which in turn, were worsening the global food crisis.