Pentagon chief heads to India amid US focus on Asia
India is the only country mentioned by name as a
vital partner in US President’s new strategy blueprint :
US: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta headed to India on Tuesday
for talks focusing on Washington's strategic shift towards Asia, as US
officials eye New Delhi as a potentially pivotal partner.
Security ties to India have steadily improved in recent years but US
officials have yet to realise the goal of a game-changing alliance that
could check China's role and empower the two countries' economies,
analysts say.
During his two-day visit, Panetta is expected to discuss expanding
defence ties, the NATO war effort in Afghanistan and China's increasing
economic and military power in the region, US officials said.
Panetta is due to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and National
Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon on Tuesday afternoon along with
other officials, before giving a policy speech on Wednesday, officials
said.
In President Barack Obama's new strategy blueprint unveiled in
January, India is the only country mentioned by name as a vital partner.
US officials say the two countries share democratic traditions and
similar concerns about China's stance as well as the threat posed by
Islamic extremists in South Asia.
“Strategically, we see India as a partner with a lot of common
interests,” a senior defence official said on condition of anonymity.
But both countries have been disappointed about a lack of progress on
defence trade and other fronts.
Although US arms sales to New Delhi have dramatically expanded over
the past decade, India in April 2011 rejected bids by US contractors for
a $12 billion fighter jet contract. France's Dassault is now in
exclusive talks for the deal.
India, for its part, has expressed irritation over US export
restrictions that prevent it from gaining access to some high-tech US
weaponry.
On the war in Afghanistan, India worries that the departure of most
US and NATO forces by the end of 2014 could empower Islamic extremists.
Last week, India called for greater coordination with the United
States on Afghanistan.
Although India favours improving military relations with the United
States, New Delhi has opted to place limits on the arrangement, giving
it room to manoeuvre, analysts said.
“India is unwilling to tightly align with US objectives, and it is
presently mired in political sclerosis and an economic slowdown,” said
Patrick Cronin, senior adviser for the Center for a New American
Security, a Washington-based think tank.
The US-India security relationship has generated increased
cooperation between the two countries' navies, as well as more
intelligence sharing.
“Naval cooperation (with the United States) is one of the chief
tangible benefits, and the number of bilateral and trilateral exercises
with India remain at a record high,” Cronin told AFP.
The India trip, part of a nine-day tour of Asia, follows stops in
Vietnam and Singapore in which Panetta signalled US plans to bolster its
naval presence in the face of a more assertive China.
In Vietnam, Panetta became the first Pentagon chief to set foot in
Cam Ranh Bay, a major port and airfield for US forces during the Vietnam
War.
Standing on the deck of a US naval supply ship undergoing repairs at
Cam Ranh, Panetta described the deep-water harbour as a strategically
valuable port that could support the US military's rebalance towards the
Pacific.
AFP
|