India and US sign key defence pact as Pompeo eyes China

India and the United States signed a key military pact and agreed on boosting cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region during talks between their top foreign affairs and defence officials in New Delhi Tuesday.   

“I am glad to say the United States and India are taking steps for cooperation against all manners of threats and not just those posed by the Chinese Communist Party,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at a joint press briefing.   

Tackling the coronavirus pandemic, expansion of military ties and the situation in Afghanistan were also discussed at the meeting attended by Pompeo, US Defence secretary Mark Esper and their Indian counterparts Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh.   

India and the US also signed pacts on nuclear energy, earth observation and alternative medicine.   

Esper in his remarks to the media said India and the US stood together “in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific for all, particularly in light of increasing aggression and destabilizing activities by China.”   

Singh and Jaishankar without naming China spoke of collaboration with the US to maintain “a rules-based international order.”   

The bi-annual meeting comes just a week before presidential elections in the US and at a time India is engaged in a military stand-off with China along their disputed Himalayan border.   

There has been increasing defence cooperation between India and the US in recent years, with both wary of China’s aggressive postures in the Asia-Pacific region.   

The Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial Cooperation (BECA) inked Tuesday will serve as one of three foundational agreements between the two countries for sharing sensitive information and sophisticated military hardware.   
 - New Delhi (dpa), 
27 Oct, 2020