India and the United States are destined to be partners at the world stage due to their shared common values and outlooks on a wide range of issues, the Pentagon has said as US Deputy Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter concluded his highly successful trip to New Delhi.
'We have a common way of looking at the world, a common way of thinking, and a common set of values that predispose us to be partners. And our interests overlap greatly,' Dr Ashton B Carter, America's next defence secretary, told Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com in an exclusive interview.
Research Fellow and Director at Initiative on the Future of India and South Asia Aparna Pande, said that Beijing and Moscow will be keenly watching Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the United States.
The $10.5 billion arms and equipment deal helped to arrest the recent drift in the 'special and privileged' strategic partnership, observes Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
Indian-Americans in Houston are very enthusiastic about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump jointly addressing the mega 'Howdy, Modi' rally, an event they believe would take the bilateral ties to a new level.
A strong partnership with US would deter China from making any aggressive posture against India, said Puneet Ahluwalia, a member of the Trump's Advisory Committee on Asian Americans.
The India-US nuclear deal was aimed at ending India's nuclear isolation and nuclear apartheid, recalls Rup Narayan Das.
Mattis applauded India's efforts to promote stability in the South Asia region, said Pentagon Spokesperson
The senior defence official, however, refrained from describing the kind of responses that the two countries would respond to their common challenges.
The MH-60R helicopter is an all-weather maritime helicopter designed to support multiple missions with state-of-the-art avionics.
Carter has said India's designation as a 'major defence partner' would allow the US to cooperate with it --
On the final day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US, that country on Tuesday extended its Defence Cooperation Agreement with India by another 10 years. The pact, which was to expire in June next year, will now be in force till 2025.
'Having India as a credible deterrent vis-a-vis Chinese ambitions in the Indian Ocean and South Asian region is a desirable short-term outcome.'
Ron Somers, founder and CEO of India First Group and the former President of leading business advocacy group US-India Business Council said that when Lok Sabha election results are declared on June 4, "I believe that Narendra Modi will win Parliament by the largest majority ever recorded in the country's history.
The resolution condemns additional Chinese provocations, including China's use of military force to change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control, construction of villages in contested areas, publication of maps with Mandarin-language names for cities and features in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, and expansion of Beijing's territorial claims in Bhutan.
The Indo-US defence relationship may now get personal attention with strong India-backer Ashton Carter today being nominated by President Barack Obama for the key post of the defence secretary.
Asserting that Indian democracy is a "global public good", Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said that its "collapse" will have an impact on the world and is not in America's national interest.
From the seas to the stars, this partnership will now be deepened by the defining role of technology, the statement said.
'India has a strong and proud tradition of strategic autonomy, and we respect that'
India and the US agreed to continue their cooperation in the areas of defence, space and clean energy as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met Secretary of State Antony Blinken here, amid a simmering diplomatic row between India and Canada over the killing of a Khalistani separatist.
'2020 will show whether India's troubled domestic economic and political house reveals a mismatch in their strategic association or whether closer strategic ties are yet possible,' says Anita Inder Singh.
'India should not be taken by surprise if the Biden administration seeks China's cooperation at some point,' alerts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The US has deployed its naval carrier strike group, led by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, as well as a fleet of F-18 fighter jets and E-2C Hawkeye all-weather aircraft for the exercise, officials said. The Indian assets at the exercise included Jaguar and Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jets, IL-78 air-to-air refuelling tanker aircraft, Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft and warships Kochi and Teg. The Indian Navy has also deployed a fleet of P8I maritime surveillance aircraft and MiG 29K jets, apart from other platforms.
The White House said that the US-India partnership has come a long way in the past eight years, but the best is yet to come.
US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mark T Esper will visit India on October 26 and 27 for the high-level dialogue aimed at further boosting defence, security and global strategic ties between the two countries.
PM Modi went to New York this time not to engage in polemics, but to find solutions to global problems. He made some progress on several matters, even on reform of the UN Security Council, when the US made a major concession for the first time that six permanent members without veto, including India, could be considered
'As far as acquisition of Russian equipment is concerned, with about 70% of Indian military equipment being of Russian origin, a sudden decision to abandon imports from Russia is not feasible,' points out Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
Now, India and US can jets, warships can use Indian bases
'Many said his visit was very risky. But mercifully, Air Force One has taken off from Delhi without Mr Trump stepping on anybody's toes,' notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
India on Thursday dismissed China's objection to the joint Indo-US military exercise near the Line of Actual Control in Uttarakhand's Auli, saying it did not give a veto to third countries on these issues.
He is currently on a two-day swing to the crucial State of Iowa. On January 15, Iowa would kick off the 2024 Republican presidential primary season.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with US President Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday to discuss a wide range of issues of mutual and global interests, aimed at further boosting the Indo-US strategic relations in areas like defence, space, clean energy and critical technologies.
The virtual meeting comes in the midst of some disquiet in Washington over India's position on the Ukraine crisis as well as its decision to procure discounted Russian oil.
"We value our partnership with India, and we've been increasing it and doing a lot more, over time. They have the same security challenge, primary security challenger that we do, and it's real on their northern border," Admiral John Christopher Aquilino, commander of United States Indo-Pacific Command, told members of the House Armed Services Committee during a hearing on Indo-Pacific National Security Challenges.
'The credit for managing Trump should go to Modi.' 'Biden is a predictable and rational person with plenty of administrative experience,' notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
EAM Jaishankar's mission is aimed at strengthening India's strategic autonomy in a complex international environment, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
China is now the most significant strategic concern in Washington, as in most of the world's capitals, especially the democracies. Today, strategic autonomy has acquired a sharper definition: To ward off the Chinese challenge to India's territorial integrity, sovereignty and regional stature, observes Shekhar Gupta.
'While the US-Pakistan relationship has been stabilised, it's still mired in uncertainty.'
'The diplomat's arrest has led to a major diplomatic spat, the likes of which I have not seen in my nearly three decades of covering the US-India relationship, says Aziz Haniffa. 'The knee-jerk reaction by the powers-that-be in Delhi was myopic to say the least.'
The greatest challenge before India is how to strike a fine balance of its relationship between its neighbour and strategic rival China, and the US.
