US should deepen defence ties with India to counter China, says expert

Washington, Oct 1 (IANS) A leading expert at the powerful conservative think tank in Washington, DC, has called for India and the United States to “deepen and broaden defence cooperation” despite their differences over other issues.

Robert Peters, a Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, in a detailed report, has argued that both countries “have an interest in preventing Chinese hegemony.”

In a paper titled “The United States and India: A Call to Confront the Shared China Threat,” Peters called on Washington to strengthen its defence ties with New Delhi.

“The United States and India both have an interest in preventing Chinese hegemony in the Indian Ocean and countering the encirclement of India by Chinese bases and states friendly to China. India has every incentive to increase its naval capacity in the Indian Ocean, and the United States can greatly assist India through the sale of weapons systems, co-development of critical military technologies, and joint diplomatic initiatives in the region,” he writes.

Peters, who served in the first Obama administration as the Special Advisor for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Office of the Secretary of Defence, asserted that the US should help India build a “strategy of denial” in the Indian Ocean by sharing its “naval intelligence.”

“India is expanding and enhancing maritime domain awareness and space-based surveillance data with neighbours and regional partners. The United States should likewise increase its sharing of naval intelligence with India in the Indian Ocean,” he advised.

The report comes as defence ties between India and the United States have remained strong despite differences over trade issues.

On Tuesday, Indian Ambassador to the United States Vinay Kwatra met the visiting officers of the Armed Forces Medical Services of India in Washington during their visit to the United States.

“The visit is aimed at enhancing cooperation in military medicine, which is an important pillar of a strong bilateral defence relationship between India and the US,” he wrote on X.

In mid-September, Ambassador Kwatra had also met the US Undersecretary of War for Policy, Elbridge Colby, at the US Department of War headquarters, the Pentagon.

In the report, Peters advocated for deeper US involvement in creating India’s domestic drone industry.

“One critical way the United States can aid India in defending its territory on the subcontinent is to supply India with the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and strike assets it needs to deter China in the region - primarily drones. Most American drones are very capable, but expensive. India could build cheaper drones at scale and deploy them to the country’s north in an effort to level the playing field with the Chinese and deter further aggression,” he noted.

Peters believed that India and the United States could benefit from military sales, “not only from the United States to India, but also from India to the United States.”

“India is currently in the process of building a world-class domestic defence industrial base. The United States should support this effort by India. Exports of military hardware from India to other nations in the Indo–Pacific and to Africa would fill a gap that might otherwise be filled by China and provide necessary capabilities to countries that both India and the U.S. see as partners,” he added.

Peters cautioned Washington to focus on “shared interests with India” and “avoid criticising the Indian government on domestic issues.”

“India is an extremely critical partner of the United States, and both parties will lose out if the relationship is not maintained,” he warned.

--IANS

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