New Delhi [India], June 5 (ANI): Terming the US-India partnership as the “cornerstone” of a free and open Indo-Pacific, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin on Monday said that both countries have a unique role in preserving the rules-based international order. Addressing a press conference after holding wide-ranging talks with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Austin said, “I had productive discussions today with Defence Minister Singh and National Security Advisor Doval. As the world’s two largest democracies, India and the United States play a unique role in preserving the rules-based international order that keeps us all secure.”
He further said, “Since I last visited India in 2021, our global and strategic partnership has continued to rapidly grow. Today, the US -India partnership is a cornerstone of a free and open Indo-Pacific, and our deepening bonds show how technological innovation and growing military cooperation between two great powers can be a force for global good.”
The US Defence Secretary said that India and US have taken new measures to strengthen the defence partnership between two countries. He spoke about the establishment of a new roadmap for defence industrial cooperation between India and the US, which will fast-track high priority co-development and co-production projects.
US Defence Secretary said that Rajnath Singh and he also spoke about Indus X that aims to enable partnerships between the US and India in defence innovation sectors. “On this visit, I am pleased that we have taken new steps to strengthen our defence partnership. We established an ambitious new roadmap for defence industrial cooperation, which will fast track high priority co-development and co-production projects and build closer ties between our defence industries,” Austin said.
“We look forward to advancing some of those projects during the upcoming visit between our leaders later this month. We also discussed an important new initiative, Indus X, that aims to jump start partnerships between the US and Indian defence innovation sectors and we’re looking forward to the formal launch of Indus X in conjunction with Prime Minister Modi’s state visit to Washington,” he said. Austin stated that during his meeting with Singh, he discussed ways to increase information sharing and new initiatives to improve maritime cooperation. He said that India and US are breaking new ground with pace and scope of joint military exercises.
“We’re not only sharing technology together, we are cooperating alongside each other more than ever before. We discussed ways to increase information sharing, as well as new initiatives to improve maritime cooperation, including in the undersea domain,” the US Defence Secretary said. “We also recently celebrated the launch of our first defence space and dialogue and that will help us work more closely together in emerging domains. We’re also breaking new ground with the pace and scope of our joint military exercises.
In this past April, some of America’s most advanced and strategic aircraft, the F35 and B1 bombers participated for the first time in the annual Cope India Air Exercises,” he added.
Earlier today, Austin who arrived in Delhi a day ago from Singapore inspected a Tri-Services Guard of Honour in the presence of the Defence Minister at the Manekshaw Centre in the city. This is Austin’s second visit to India. Previously, Lloyd Austin visited India in March 2021.
Earlier, the US Defence Secretary in a tweet thanked Rajnath Singh for his “unwavering commitment” to defence ties between India and US. Austin tweeted, “Great to meet again with my friend @rajnathsingh and thank him for his unwavering commitment to US-India defence relations. His leadership has helped paved the way for deeper collaboration, joint exercises, and technology sharing between our two countries.” (ANI)
“We see bullying, coercion from China,” US Defence Secy Austin in India
New Delhi [India], June 5 (ANI): Visiting United States Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin on Monday said that the world is witnessing bullying and coercion from China which was seeking to “redraw borders by force” and also threaten the national sovereignty of countries.
Addressing a press conference after holding a bilateral meeting with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the US Defence Secretary said, “We face a rapidly changing world. We see bullying and coercion from China, Russian aggression against Ukraine that seeks to redraw borders by force and threatens national sovereignty, as well as transnational challenges, such as terrorism and climate change.”
The US Defence Secretary highlighted the importance of joint military exercises between India and the US. “So democracies must now rally together around not just our common interest, but also our shared values. Preserving and protecting the freedoms that are essential to peace and prosperity will require vigorous leadership from the United States and India. And so we still have a lot of work to do, but I am confident that the US-India Partnership will help to secure an open and prosperous future for the Indo-Pacific and the wider world,” he added.
Austin, who arrived in India a day ago today concluded a roadmap for Defence Industrial Cooperation with Rajnath Singh. The roadmap for the next few years will identify opportunities between the two countries for the co-development of new technologies and co-production of existing and new systems as well as facilitate increased collaboration between defence start-up ecosystems.
Just recently in his address at the Shangri-La Security Summit in Singapore, Austin had warned that the conflict in Taiwan Strait would be a devastating one, criticising China for its actions in the region. “Our policy is constant and firm. It has held true across U.S. administrations. And we will continue to categorically oppose unilateral changes to the status quo from either side. I’d also highlight that conflict is neither imminent or inevitable. Deterrence is strong today–and it’s our job to keep it that way,” Austin said at the Shangri-La Security Summit in Singapore on Saturday.
“You know, the whole world has a stake in maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait–the whole world. The security of commercial shipping lanes and global supply chains depends on it. And so does freedom of navigation world-wide.But make no mistake: conflict in the Taiwan Strait would be devastating,” he said in his remarks ‘A Shared Vision for the Indo-Pacific’ in Singapore.
Earlier today, Austin stated that India and US global strategic partnership has continued to rapidly grow. India-US partnership is the cornerstone of a free and open Indo-Pacific. Both nations have established an ambitious roadmap for US-India defence industrial cooperation. Talking about the meeting with the Defence Minister, he stated that they discussed an important new initiative, INDUS-X, that aims to jumpstart partnerships between the US and Indian defence innovation sectors.
A statement released by the Defence Ministry stated that Austin and Singh explored ways of building resilient supply chains. Both sides decided “to identify opportunities for the co-development of new technologies and co-production of existing and new systems and facilitate increased collaboration between defence start-up ecosystems of the two countries”. They also discussed regional security issues given their shared interest in maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, addressing a press conference today, Austin responding to a query on the ongoing Russian Ukaraine conflict said, “It’s been widely reported that Russia has constructed defences along the border of the occupied territory. And those defences, in many cases, are defences in depth. So we see several lines of fortifications, ditches, dragon’s teeth prepared positions, those kinds of things.” “In some cases, it’s a fairly significant preparation there, but I would say that they have to defend against a pretty significant across a pretty significant area. So they probably can’t be strong in every place. So it’s incumbent upon the Ukrainians to find those points of advantage that they can leverage and exploit. So we’ll see what happens.”
During their meeting, Rajnath Singh and Lloyd Austin reviewed the “robust and multifaceted” bilateral defence cooperation activities and agreed to maintain the momentum of engagement. After the meeting, Rajnath Singh said on Twitter that the talks revolved around enhancing defence cooperation in several areas including convergence of strategic interests and enhanced security cooperation. “India-US partnership is critical for ensuring a free, open and rules-bound Indo-Pacific region. We look forward to closely work with the US across the domains for capacity building and further consolidating our strategic partnership,” Singh tweeted.
The two leaders welcomed the inaugural talks held recently focusing on defence artificial intelligence and defence space. Singh and Austin discussed the regional security issues considering their shared interest in maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
The meeting was attended by senior officials from the Ministry of Defence, including Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane and Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Dr Samir V Kamat.
Earlier today, Austin who arrived in Delhi on Sunday from Singapore inspected a Tri-Services Guard of Honour in the presence of the Defence Minister at the Manekshaw Centre in Delhi. This is Austin’s second visit to India. Previously, Lloyd Austin visited India in March 2021. (ANI)
