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US, India forge defence, security alliance to contain China
New York, Apr 06: United States and India are forging long-term defence and security alliances aimed at containing China, which both see as an emerging regional and global power, said a foreign report quoting a `classified` US analysis.
New York, Apr 06: United States and India are forging long-term defence and security alliances aimed at containing China, which both see as an emerging regional and global power, said a foreign report quoting a "classified" US analysis.
"China represents the most significant threat to both countries' security in the future as an economic and military competitor," said the 130-page analysis, 'Indo-US Military Relationship: Expectations and Perceptions,' prepared for US Secretary of State for Defence Donald Rumsfeld.
The analysis quoted an unidentified US admiral saying that a positive relationship with India was a "hedge" against future Chinese ambitions. "The USA and India both view china as a strategic threat and share an interest in understanding Chinese strategic intent, though we do not discuss this publicly," the admiral said.
The report noted Indian and US views of China were "strikingly similar", predicated to keeping China out of the Indian Ocean region where, over the past decade, it has been making swift inroads. US officials, it said, think a "strategic engagement" with India could become a "future investment" of growing value if Asia became hostile and dangerous to a continuing US military presence in the region.
If the US relations with its traditional allies -Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia - become more fragile, India "should emerge as a vital component of us strategy," the report was quoted as saying.
The analysis was said to have been produced after the writers interviewed 82 senior US and Indian officials, mostly military personnel linked closely with furthering bilateral security ties between Washington and New Delhi.
"If China emerges as a major power, the USA needs to have friends - preferably friends who share the same values," the report said, adding, "India will have more clout. As the US military engages India, as much as we say we do, we cannot separate our thinking on India from our thinking on China." One US officer was quoted as saying, "We want a friend in 2020 that will be capable of assisting the US militarily to deal with a Chinese threat."
India is a more than willing US ally in attempting to 'spook and rattle' China, despite the ongoing flurry of diplomatic and political overtures to the Chinese government to normalise relations, the report claimed.
"As the USA and India develop a closer military relationship, China will respond. Where and how China will respond remains unclear, but India faces the reality that it lives in a neighbourhood where China supplies nuclear and missile technology to Pakistan, weapons to Bangladesh and is building a 3657m runaway near Mandalay (Myanmar) and a deep-water port in Gwadar in Pakistan," it said.
Bureau Report
The analysis quoted an unidentified US admiral saying that a positive relationship with India was a "hedge" against future Chinese ambitions. "The USA and India both view china as a strategic threat and share an interest in understanding Chinese strategic intent, though we do not discuss this publicly," the admiral said.
The report noted Indian and US views of China were "strikingly similar", predicated to keeping China out of the Indian Ocean region where, over the past decade, it has been making swift inroads. US officials, it said, think a "strategic engagement" with India could become a "future investment" of growing value if Asia became hostile and dangerous to a continuing US military presence in the region.
If the US relations with its traditional allies -Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia - become more fragile, India "should emerge as a vital component of us strategy," the report was quoted as saying.
The analysis was said to have been produced after the writers interviewed 82 senior US and Indian officials, mostly military personnel linked closely with furthering bilateral security ties between Washington and New Delhi.
"If China emerges as a major power, the USA needs to have friends - preferably friends who share the same values," the report said, adding, "India will have more clout. As the US military engages India, as much as we say we do, we cannot separate our thinking on India from our thinking on China." One US officer was quoted as saying, "We want a friend in 2020 that will be capable of assisting the US militarily to deal with a Chinese threat."
India is a more than willing US ally in attempting to 'spook and rattle' China, despite the ongoing flurry of diplomatic and political overtures to the Chinese government to normalise relations, the report claimed.
"As the USA and India develop a closer military relationship, China will respond. Where and how China will respond remains unclear, but India faces the reality that it lives in a neighbourhood where China supplies nuclear and missile technology to Pakistan, weapons to Bangladesh and is building a 3657m runaway near Mandalay (Myanmar) and a deep-water port in Gwadar in Pakistan," it said.
Bureau Report