US and India pledge to deepen military cooperation in push for ‘larger relevance’ in Indo-Pacific
- US defence secretary Lloyd cites China threat in ‘2+2’ dialogue that also included his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh
- Bilateral cooperation on multiple fronts has ‘a larger relevance for the Indo Pacific’, India’s Jaishankar says
The US and India on Monday pledged deeper military interoperability and intelligence sharing as part of a bilateral push to increase their influence in the Indo-Pacific region. US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin also said that China posed a threat to the international system that Washington and Delhi support.
“The People’s Republic of China is seeking to refashion the region and the international system more broadly, in ways that serve its interest,” Lloyd told reporters in a briefing that followed the “2+2” dialogue that also included his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
“So I’m pleased that we’ve identified new opportunities to extend the operational reach of our militaries and to coordinate more closely together across the expanse of the Indo Pacific,” Austin added. “Especially following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it is more important than ever that we stand together to defend our shared values.”
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Mariupol destruction visible from the air as Ukraine and Russia continue to fight over port city
Without referencing China specifically, Jaishankar lauded recent progress that India and the US have made in defence, trade and infrastructure development, and summed up the bilateral cooperation on multiple fronts “as having a larger relevance for the Indo Pacific”.
A White House readout of US President Joe Biden’s call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in the day, said that the two leaders “emphasized their shared commitment, as leaders of the world’s largest democracies, to respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations in the Indo-Pacific and beyond”.
They also discussed “the destabilizing impacts of Russia’s war against Ukraine, with a particular focus on global food supply”, according to the readout.
Having India on America’s side is critically important for the administration’s Indo-Pacific strategy, said Aparna Pande, director of the Hudson Institute’s Initiative on the Future of India and South Asia.
