By Daniel Dombey, US Diplomatic Correspondent

Ripples from events on both US coasts have reached India, where Robert Gates, America’s powerful defence secretary, is talking grand policy.

To begin with, of course, there’s Massachusetts, which has just given the Obama administration a highly unwelcome birthday present in the shape of a Republican Senator whose mere election has already enfeebled the White House.

Even from Delhi, President Barack Obama appears bloodied, as the American anti-incumbent backlash grows.

So annoyed are US voters at almost all government officials that Mr Gates was probably wise to go out of his way to stress that his transport to the day’s most photogenic event -  a trip to the incomparable Taj Mahal – was at the Indian government’s expense.

A visit to this 16th century monument – which today looked almost diaphanous in the warm, hazy air -  is seen in India as a mark of respect to the country’s history and culture.

But in the US, particularly in the current climate, it could be seen as just one more official indulgence at taxpayers’ expense – hence Gates’ keenness to thank the Indian government for flying him over from Delhi.

India, meanwhile, is abuzz about an alleged Chinese cyberattack on government computers, revealed just a week after Google complained of similar Chinese assaults, including at its headquarters in Mountain View, California.

Asked at a press conference just before the Taj Mahal trip whether India and the US faced a common Chinese cyberthreat, Gates highlighted the big strategic issues he discussed with Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh – although he did so in his own diplomatic, elliptical way.

He didn’t link China to cybersecurity explicitly, but he stressed the US and India’s “common interest in security of the Indian Ocean and…  and if you’re talking about the internet, the ether.”

And he said the two sides also discussed China’s military modernisation programme – a growing obsession in both Washington and Delhi. Indeed, as an old cold warrior who spent years working on the Soviet Union Gates allowed himself a little nostalgia about the endless arms control talks with the USSR.

He said those negotiations may not have “actually reduced any arms” but produced more candour between the two sides, so helping  prevent “miscalculations and mistakes”, adding: “that kind of a dialogue with China would be most productive and frankly in the best interests of global stability.”

Throughout the press conference, Gates appeared a little preoccupied – as anyone would, if they had Afghanistan, Iraq and Haiti on their plate and even needed to worry about an innocuous sightseeing trip to the Taj Mahal