US has deepened, strengthened relationship with India: Official
2 min read . Updated: 01 Mar 2023, 06:27 AM IST
Premium- Yesterday, the Biden administration said that India is a global strategic partner of the US
The US's senior State Department official has spoken about the deepened relationship between the two countries. Assistant Secretary of State for the Political Military Bureau, Jessica Lewis said that India is an incredibly important country in the region.
Lewis said that the United States has deepened and strengthened its relationship with India.
"We have deepened and strengthened our relationship with India, the largest democracy in the world, an incredibly important country in the region, and we are continuing to do so," Lewis told Defense Writers Group.
The US official added, "I think the way we see it is we offer India a choice when it comes to deepening and strengthening their security relationship with us. I feel very good about where that is going. Obviously, they have a long history of course, but I think we are making very good progress on that front".
On arms and weapons, Lewis said a year after the Ukrainian war, countries around the world are looking to diversify their weapons.
"We are seeing countries coming to us and saying look, we may need to diversify in ways that they haven’t before, off the Russian equipment. Mainly because they are seeing the failure of Russia and Soviet doctrine in the war, but also raising questions about the equipment that Russia is providing and Russia’s ability to keep providing that equipment," she said.
“We think that this moment in time presents an opportunity for us to look at the question of as countries are becoming interested in the transition off Russian equipment both for the US and for our partners and allies it does make sense for us to offer countries a choice. I think that's how we're thinking about it. We’re offering countries a choice," he said.
Yesterday, the Biden administration said that India is a global strategic partner of the US.
"India is a global strategic partner of ours. We have a wide, broad, deep relationship with India. There will be a lot on the agenda in the bilateral relationship and in the multilateral engagements he takes part in on the margins of the G20," Ned Price, State Department Spokesperson said.
India is a key partner of ours bilaterally, in the context of the Quad as well as other international groupings, he added.
Quad is comprised of Japan, India, Australia, and the United States. The four countries had in 2017 given shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the "Quad" or the Quadrilateral coalition to counter China's aggressive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific region.
India and the United States, Price said, share several important interests and a number of important values.