New Delhi: A senior Pentagon official has said the US will support India’s “ability to shape a favorable balance of power” in the Indo-Pacific, especially with China becoming more belligerent.
In an online roundtable on Thursday night, Assistant Secretary of Defense (Indo-Pacific Security Affairs) Eli Ratner also said that the US supports India’s military modernization plans – from jointly building air-launched drones to New Delhi’s To increase immunity.
Ratner also called India America’s “central” approach to the Indo-Pacific – a ‘being’to openA connected, prosperous, resilient and secure region.
Noting that the two countries have made “several progress” over the years, he said efforts are on to establish systems and processes that allow India and the US to operate and coordinate together in complex situations. .
“Here at the Department and in the US government, we see the US-India partnership as central to our vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific.
“And while there may be obstacles in the way, we’re really focused on the long game, building our partnership into the future and supporting India’s ability to shape a favorable balance of power in the Indo-Pacific. has been,” he said. Told.
Ratner, who met with Indian defense officials in New Delhi earlier this month, said her department was working on three key priorities.
He said, “The first of which is supporting India’s military modernization.
The Assistant Secretary explained that this means that the US is going to work closely with India on co-production and co-developing capabilities that meet New Delhi’s defense modernization goals and its potential to export to US partners across the region, including the South and Southeast. capacity will be supported. Asia, at affordable rates.
“The second priority we are pursuing is deepening our operational cooperation and coordination, with a vision to counter and outdo our competitors in critical battlefields,” he said without any reference to China. , which has emerged as the main challenge for America. In area.
Ratner further said that the US is looking at how the two countries can work together in a broader regional architecture, including in alliance settings with partners within and outside the Indo-Pacific.
‘US recognizes India’s complicated history with Russia’
Ratner said the US “unequivocally believes that India has a long and complex security partnership – a long and complicated history” in the context of its security partnership with Russia.
He said the US wants to support India in diversifying its arms imports and prioritizing indigenous development.
Asked whether the US is concerned about China’s growing naval presence in the Indian Ocean, Ratner said, “Our concern is not only related to China’s growing naval presence in the Indian Ocean, but how it is expressing that presence.” and what are its intentions.
He said, “And what we have seen — what worries us in the Indian Ocean is that we will see and have started to see a pattern of PRC and PLA behavior that we have seen in other parts of the region including non-international Law enforcement, lack of transparency, including its efforts to set up military installations overseas, as well as the use of coercive economic tools to achieve security objectives.
He said that these are issues that America is concerned about.