US sharing of intelligence with India in border clash with China seen as pivotal in partnership
- Real-time information, including satellite imagery, about Chinese positions was provided and ‘enraged’ Beijing, according to report
- Washington’s decision to share the intelligence in advance is considered unprecedented, and a sign of strengthening cooperation
As Sino-India tensions rise in the inhospitable stretches of the Himalayas and some experts warn that future clashes could escalate into a full-fledged war between the nuclear-armed giants, the US is refocusing on the decades-old border dispute – including a more active role in sharing intelligence – as part of its Indo-Pacific strategy to check Chinese activity in the region.
Real-time intelligence provided by the US about Chinese positions along the loosely marked 2,000-mile (3,200km) frontier prepared India to successfully ward off a potential Chinese military “incursion” last year, according to a report in March.
The act “caught Chinese armed forces off guard” and “enraged” Beijing while preventing the crisis from mutating into something more serious, said US News & World Report, which cited anonymous officials aware of the details.
The information provided India with “actionable satellite imagery” and “was more detailed and delivered more quickly”, the report said.
The tip helped troops to better counter China’s “probing and testing phase” on how “the Indians can and will respond and to see what the Indians can detect” and forced a Chinese retreat, it added.
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US joins high-altitude military exercise with India near its Himalayan border with China
This marked the first time Washington passed on key intelligence on Chinese strength along the Line of Actual Control – or LAC, as the Sino-India border is known – in advance to its Indian counterparts, according to the report.
