NEW DELHI: Ensuring security and stability in the critical Indo-Pacific region, with more bilateral as well as multilateral collaboration in the face of a belligerent China, is on top of the India-US agenda during secretary of defence Lloyd J Austin’s visit here this weekend.
With the Biden administration declaring its clear intent to strengthen 'alliances and partnerships' in the Indo-Pacific to foster 'credible deterrence' against China, Austin called on PM Narendra Modi and met national security advisor Ajit Doval in the evening after touching down in New Delhi at 4.40 pm on Friday.
Modi, welcoming the ‘warm and close’ ties between the two countries rooted in ‘shared values of democracy, pluralism and commitment to a rules-based order’, outlined his vision for the bilateral strategic partnership during the meeting.
Austin, in turn, expressed the US’ strong desire to further enhance the bilateral strategic partnership for peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.
The substantive meeting between defence minister Rajnath Singh and Austin who is on the third leg of his first overseas tour after visiting Japan and South Korea with secretary of state Antony Blinken, will on Saturday morning.
Austin, a retired Army general, will be briefed on India’s continuing military confrontation with China in eastern Ladakh, which is into its 11th month now, said officials.
India and China did undertake troop disengagement on both sides of Pangong Tso last month but the deadlock persists at Gogra, Hot Springs, Demchok and Depsang Plains, with the overall de-escalation and de-induction of troops in the high-altitude region still nowhere on the horizon.
With India, US, Japan and Australia expressing their stand against any “coercion” in the Indo-Pacific during their leaders’ Quad summit on March 12, their navies will join France for its “La Pérouse” exercise in the Bay of Bengal from April 4 to 7, as was earlier reported by TOI.
Expansive defence cooperation, of course, is the cornerstone of the India-US strategic relationship. While no new pact or arms contract will be inked, officials say the delegation-level meeting between Singh and Austin will also focus on enhanced cooperation in intelligence-sharing, counter-terrorism and maritime domain awareness, said an official.
Having already bagged lucrative Indian arms deals worth over $21 billion just since 2007, the US obviously wants more. India’s $1.8 billion proposed acquisition of six more P-8I long-range maritime patrol aircraft, which will add to the 12 such planes already contracted for $3.2 billion earlier, is one such deal in the final stages now.
With two leased MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones already being used for surveillance missions over the Indian Ocean since last November, India is also finalizing its plan to buy 30 such `hunter-killer’ armed drones from the US for over $3 billion, as was first reported by TOI.
At the meeting on Saturday, India will also reiterate its case for a waiver from the US law called CAATSA (Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act), which was enacted in 2017 to prevent countries from buying Russian weapons or Iranian oil.
This has become crucial because India will begin inducting advanced S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile systems, under the $5.43 billion (Rs 40,000 crore) contract inked with Russia in 2018, from this October onwards.
The Modi government has already conveyed to the US that the S-400 acquisition is an “urgent national security requirement” for India. All five mobile S-400 squadrons will be progressively delivered to India by 2023. The US has, incidentally, imposed financial sanctions on China and Turkey for inducting the S-400 systems from Russia.