TOKYO: United States Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Mike Gilday has said that India will be an important partner for the US in the future, playing a key role in countering China.
The remarks come as the idea that the border conflict between India and China in the Himalayas is a two-front problem for Beijing is gaining traction among US strategists, Japanese newspaper Nikkei Asia reported.
During a personal seminar in Washington on Thursday, America’s highest-ranked naval officer said he has spent more time visiting India than any other country as he sees New Delhi as a strategic partner for the US in the future.
Referring to his five-day visit to India last year, Admiral Gilday said, “The Indian Ocean battlefield is becoming more and more important to us. The fact is that India and China currently have little skirmishes on their border.. .It is strategically important.”
“They now force China to look not only to the east, to the South China Sea taiwan straitBut now he has to look over his shoulder at India,” Admiral Gilday said during an event organized by the Heritage Foundation.
Back in June, when the leaders of the Quad were meeting in Japan, the former pentagon Official Elbridge Colby told Nikkei Asia that India would not contribute directly to the local fighting over Taiwan, but could draw China’s attention to the Himalayan border.
Colby, the lead author of the 2018 National Defense Strategy, said, “The United States and Japan need India to be as strong as possible in South Asia and effectively attract Chinese attention so that they face a major other problem.” Are.” under the former president Donald Trump,
Meanwhile, India derives equal benefit from China’s difficulties in countering a strong US-Japan alliance around Taiwan, he said.
Against this background, a planned joint mountaineering exercise between the US and India in October is being seen as underlining a possible second front for China, according to Nikkei Asia. The annual joint exercise Yudh Abhyas, which translates to “war exercise”, will be held in the Indian state of Uttarakhand from October 18 to 31.
While India has hosted Yudh Abhyas exercises in Uttarakhand before, including in 2014, 2016 and 2018, all those exercises were conducted in the foothills more than 300 km from the Chinese border.
According to a Nikkei Asia report, this year’s exercise will take place at an altitude of over 3,000 meters in Uttarakhand’s Auli region, which is less than 100 km from the Line of Actual Control.
Earlier this year, columnist Brahm Chelani wrote in Nikkei Asia that Indian activities in the Himalayas could help defend Taiwan.
This would “tidy up a full Chinese theater force, which could otherwise be employed against the island,” Chelani argued, adding that such a two-front strategy should be coordinated with the US.
The remarks come as the idea that the border conflict between India and China in the Himalayas is a two-front problem for Beijing is gaining traction among US strategists, Japanese newspaper Nikkei Asia reported.
During a personal seminar in Washington on Thursday, America’s highest-ranked naval officer said he has spent more time visiting India than any other country as he sees New Delhi as a strategic partner for the US in the future.
Referring to his five-day visit to India last year, Admiral Gilday said, “The Indian Ocean battlefield is becoming more and more important to us. The fact is that India and China currently have little skirmishes on their border.. .It is strategically important.”
“They now force China to look not only to the east, to the South China Sea taiwan straitBut now he has to look over his shoulder at India,” Admiral Gilday said during an event organized by the Heritage Foundation.
Back in June, when the leaders of the Quad were meeting in Japan, the former pentagon Official Elbridge Colby told Nikkei Asia that India would not contribute directly to the local fighting over Taiwan, but could draw China’s attention to the Himalayan border.
Colby, the lead author of the 2018 National Defense Strategy, said, “The United States and Japan need India to be as strong as possible in South Asia and effectively attract Chinese attention so that they face a major other problem.” Are.” under the former president Donald Trump,
Meanwhile, India derives equal benefit from China’s difficulties in countering a strong US-Japan alliance around Taiwan, he said.
Against this background, a planned joint mountaineering exercise between the US and India in October is being seen as underlining a possible second front for China, according to Nikkei Asia. The annual joint exercise Yudh Abhyas, which translates to “war exercise”, will be held in the Indian state of Uttarakhand from October 18 to 31.
While India has hosted Yudh Abhyas exercises in Uttarakhand before, including in 2014, 2016 and 2018, all those exercises were conducted in the foothills more than 300 km from the Chinese border.
According to a Nikkei Asia report, this year’s exercise will take place at an altitude of over 3,000 meters in Uttarakhand’s Auli region, which is less than 100 km from the Line of Actual Control.
Earlier this year, columnist Brahm Chelani wrote in Nikkei Asia that Indian activities in the Himalayas could help defend Taiwan.
This would “tidy up a full Chinese theater force, which could otherwise be employed against the island,” Chelani argued, adding that such a two-front strategy should be coordinated with the US.