US, India to strengthen relations through quad consultations with Japan & Australia

In the wake of the growing aggression by China on almost all frontiers be it on land or waters, the US and India held bilateral 2+2 inter-sessional meeting on Friday and agreed to further strengthen consultation through US-India-Australia-Japan Quadrilateral consultations. The US highlighted the importance of India emerging as a  major defence partner and the two nations discussed over a range of geopolitical issues.

A press statement by the US Department of Defence read, "The United States underscored the importance of India's status as a Major Defense Partner, growing military-to-military cooperation, and other defence priorities. The two sides discussed a range of bilateral, regional, and multilateral issues, including combating COVID-19, counterterrorism, India's membership on the UN Security Council, support for good governance and sustainable development in the Indo-Pacific region, and efforts to counteract recent destabilising actions in South Asia and the broader Indo-Pacific region."

"Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Thompson and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Helvey pledged to continue working with their Indian counterparts to advance the US-India partnership for the benefit of both countries, the region, and the world. They looked forward to preparing for the US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue later this year," the Defence Department said.

The Indian delegation was led jointly Vani Rao, Joint Secretary (Americas) in the Ministry of External Affairs and Somnath Ghosh, Joint Secretary (International Cooperation) in the Ministry of Defence. The US delegation was led jointly by Dean Thompson, Senior Bureau Official, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs in the US Department of State and David Helvey, Acting Assistant Secretary for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs in the US Department of Defense.

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China’s aggression

The Cooperation of the Quad becomes important with the growing aggression of China on all border regions such as the encroachment along the lines of LAC with India and its aggression in the international waters of South China Sea in the Indo-Pacific. There have been two serious conflicts with India in the Ladakh region, the first one occurred in June when 20 Indian Army personnel were martyred, but in a befitting response inflicted massive damage to the Chinese Army. The second flare-up occured at the end of August when China tried to unilaterally change the status quo but its attempt was foiled by India by occupying strategic heights and pushing them backwards.

Moreover, the Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific has also been strongly opposed by the US, India, Australia, Japan and ASEAN countries.

Besides the border disputes, China has also caused serious human rights violations in Hong Kong by imposing the draconian National Security Law which threatens the autonomy of the city and China has also attempted to change the demography of Xinjiang Province with the ethnic cleansing of Uighur Muslims for which the world is condemning China for these gross human rights violations.

(With ANI inputs)

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