US President Trump "presented the Legion of Merit to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his leadership in elevating the US-India strategic partnership," O'Brien said in a tweet.
Johnson's first visit to India as United Kingdom prime minister will begin on April 21 with a trip to Ahmedabad in Gujarat, which is Prime Minister Modi's home state.
India is one of the few countries in the region that enjoys good relations with both Israel and Saudi Arabia, and IMEC would allow it to recreate the old Spice Route to Europe. All this is in jeopardy now, notes Rajeev Srinivasan.
It is going to be a long-term proposition for India -- which has a decades-old relationship with Moscow -- to reorient its foreign policy away from Russia, the US has said, insisting that re-aligning one's approach is not like flipping a light switch.
The MoD did not reveal the number of missiles procured through the latest contract.
However, this information was inadvertently revealed through an official MoD photograph that accompanied the announcement.
The official told the reporters during a conference call on Friday, ahead of the next week's 2+2 India-US Ministerial in New Delhi, that the Trump administration was providing support to India through defence sales, joint military exercises and information sharing.
The relations between the two countries have never been as good as they are now, Trump said, adding that the countries have made "wonderful deal".
India's commitment to an open and plural security architecture attests to the fact that Asia's transition is a dynamic of both power & identity, says Zorawar Daulet Singh
India, Japan and the Unoted States on Friday kicked off their marine war games, Malabar Exercise, close to the South China Sea as they focus on deeper military ties and greater interoperability amid rising tensions in the region.
General Mattis has been the most steadfast champion in Trump's cabinet of the US-India defence relationship. If Trump chooses a more pliable successor, the Pentagon's attention could go off India.
Ever pragmatic, the Americans are convinced that the future is in the Indo-Pacific.
There is a new Indo-Pacific century, and India has to decide whether it has its eyes on the prize, says Rajeev Srinivasan.
Gen Kenneth S Wilsbach, commander of the US Pacific Air Forces, said the US side held the interaction behind closed doors with most of the air chiefs of the region.
China has said that it successfully carried out a land-based mid-course anti-ballistic missile (ABM) technical test on Sunday with Chinese experts claiming that the tests, stated to be the sixth of its kind, validated the reliability of the country's anti-ballistic missile umbrella.
India, Jaishankar said, is a "prisoner of its past image" and must get over it.
"A Biden administration will be mostly positive for India," said Rick Rossow from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies think tank. "I expect most positive areas of cooperation -- notably defence -- to be maintained," he said.
In addition to the attack helicopters, the contract also includes fire control radars; Hellfire Longbow missiles; stinger Block I-92H missiles; night vision sensors and inertial navigation systems.
China said on Monday that no 'exclusive cliques' should be formed as it accused some countries of trying to 'drive a wedge' among regional nations citing the 'China threat' and asserted that they will 'end up nowhere'.
Asserting that both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping are 'responsible' leaders, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday said they both are capable of solving issues between the two countries, and that it was important that no 'extra-regional power' should interfere in the process.
At the same time, Jaishankar said India and the US are on the same page on many issues relating to the recent developments in Afghanistan including apprehensions about the possible use of Afghan soil for terrorism.
At a joint media briefing with Lavrov, Jaishankar listed issues such as "factors of instability" such as terrorism and its cross-border manifestation and said it remains a "major concern".
While many Western countries, including the United States, Britain and Australia, are diplomatically boycotting the Winter Olympics over China's human rights record, Putin will join a number of Beijing-friendly leaders at the Games.
China on Tuesday urged US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to stop sowing discord between Beijing and countries in the region, undermining regional peace and stability, amidst his visit to India for a high-level dialogue aimed at further ramping up their overall defence and security ties, and boost strategic cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.
The US House of Representatives and the Senate on Tuesday passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which included key components of Indian-American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi's resolution language urging the Chinese government to end its military aggression against India along the LAC.
India must be aware that there is no question of the US fighting the Chinese on land. We have to fight our own battles, points out Virendra Kapoor.
Defence and strategic experts on Monday said that China's posturing in the Indian Ocean will disturb stability and peace in the region.
The Modi government finds itself in a contradiction of its own making. It has encouraged pro-Russian, Westophobic public sentiment while setting strategic policy that's exactly the opposite, points out Shekhar Gupta.
'Relations between India and Japan are robust and devoid of either shadow of history or any irritant.' 'In fact, there is plenty of warmth and goodwill earned over history. There are no negatives but only opportunities,' notes Dr Rajaram Panda.
'As Prime Minister Modi said, our ties are no longer just another partnership. It is a far greater and closer relationship'
'Our equations with China require engagement and not confrontation; its interfaces with Pakistan and with some other South Asian neighbours also add to the complexities,' says Vice Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
'The Modi visit will prove to be the watershed where India and the United States commenced technology trade and transfer.'
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he was proud that the State Assembly and the State Senate have passed the bill making Diwali a New York City Public School holiday.
"On the border issue, China always maintains that we should follow through on treaties and agreements we signed and we jointly uphold peace and tranquility at the border region," Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said while responding to Jaishankar's remarks.
Taiwan says it detected multiple Chinese aircraft and naval vessels taking part in military drills around the Taiwan Strait on Saturday, in what could be a possible simulated attack against the island.
Here's the full text of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to a joint session of the United States Congress, delivered on Thursday.
The United States has not made a determination yet on any potential Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) waiver to India with regard to its purchase of S-400 missile defence system from Russia, the Biden Administration said Tuesday.
Swaraj expressed satisfaction over the agenda of the inaugural dialogue while giving the details of the deliberations.
Xi said the entire military should devote all its energy to carry out all its work for combat readiness, enhance its capability to fight and win, and effectively fulfill its missions and tasks
Prime Minister Narendra Modi enjoys a close relationship with Shinzo Abe. For Abe, "a strong India is in the best interest of Japan, and a strong Japan is in the best interest of India."
By changing the nation's name from India to Bharat, would this landmass overnight lose the emotional and cultural linkage that had been built over generations, centuries and millennia, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Under General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Xi Jinping, Beijing has stepped up its aggressive foreign policy toward New Delhi. Since 2013, China has engaged in five major altercations with India along the Line of Actual Control (LAC),' said a brief issued by US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
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