ID :
18384
Mon, 09/08/2008 - 10:09
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/18384
The shortlink copeid
Military ties with India based on shared interests: U.S.
Sridhar Krishnaswami
Washington, Sept 8 (PTI) Ahead of Defence Minister A. K. Antony's crucial visit, the U.S. Sunday said its military and security ties with India were "here to stay" as they were based on "shared interests" and brushed off the notion that it was moving closer to New Delhi as a "counter weight" to China.
"It is a visit that is a part of a larger process of interaction" and was set up "very well in Secretary Robert Gates' visit to New Delhi at the end of February which by all accounts a very successful trip," Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence, James Clad, told P.T.I.
Antony will be the first Indian minister to visit
Washington after the Nuclear Suppliers Group (N.S.G.) granted
the India-specific waiver on Saturday for nuclear commerce,
giving the go-ahead for the implementation of the landmark
Indo-U.S. civil nuclear deal.
He is being accompanied by a "very broad spectrum of
Indian senior military services interest and procurement"
during his four-day visit beginning Sunday but "it will be a
mistake to regard the trip as a procurement trip," said the
senior Pentagon official who overseas the Asia Pacific area,
including India.
Noting that "the security relationship we have with India
is one that is based on shared interests," he said "it may
sound like a vague formulation of words but in the range of
security cooperation India has with the outside world, it is
with the United States that the interaction is most
variegated."
"It stretches across the services, it involves
interaction in exercises with the army, the Navy (Malabar is
coming up again) and of course the Red Flag (Air Force) was
highly successful. Our people in the Air Force are (at) awe
with the Indian capability and this is the kind of steady
progression," Clad maintained.
The senior Defence Department official brushed off the
notion that the United States is moving closer to India as
some kind of a "counter weight" to China or is involved in
some kind of a "balancing" act.
"It is absolutely important to raise this question
because I hear shallow so-called 'explanations' of India-US
security relations based on a notion of some kind of Chinese
bogeyman," Clad said.
"The first reason this is simple minded is because India
would never allow itself to be used as some type of large
piece on the Geopolitical chessboard. India makes its own
security and geopolitical determinations, and its own
engagement with China proceeds on well-reasoned grounds, as
does ours."
As an emerging power, China requires continuing
evaluation and assessment, he said. "As great powers, India
and the United States must take account of capability trends
in their neighbourhoods and in areas of strategic concern, and
China's capabilities and intentions are a matter of interest
to our allies, security partners and friends across the
breadth of Asia -- and beyond."
"As someone who felt years ago that deepening security
and defence ties between our two countries was inevitable, I'm
glad to help reinforce these inevitable, irreversible trend
lines. With India, we are rounding out security connections
rather than planning to counter any particular country," Clad
added.
"This sophisticated agenda is lightyears from some kind
of crude anti-China line-up. The Secretary of Defence of the
United States of America would be the very first person to
reject such a formulation; under his stewardship we have
continued and deepened policies of engagement with both major
and minor countries, understanding that the net effect of this
adds to our common international security."
Stating that the Pentagon is "delighted" to have Antony
here, he said "... we are going to be receiving him in full
military honours at the express request of Secretary Gates."
Asked about the message with which the Indian Defence
Minister should leave after his visit, he said the visit
should be a confirmation that the defence and security
relationship is "here to stay -- both in the externalities of
India's reach into the world as well as in the more narrow
sense of a rising trend of defence procurement and interaction
between our armed services."
"...We don't have to do any work to 'sell' to our
military a deeper relationship with India. They are keen to
move ahead," Clad said.
"We are past the point where we have to talk up the
relationship or brief people why it matters. We are at a point
where the relationship has a self sustaining momentum.
Therefore visits add to it, but the absence of a visit does
not substract from it," the senior Defence Department official
said.
Clad said that "in many, many ways we are at a level of
engagement with India that simply points to a deepening
involvement in the future."
He argued that to say that the United States did not
care about any time tension rose in the sub-continent would be
"nonsense".
"Obviously when there is a situation of tensions within
the sub-continent the United States has to be very careful to
protect its particular relationships. That is not to deny
there is no pressure as and when the sub-continent's tensions
increase. That would be nonsense," he said.
Clad argued that it is necessary to look past visits to
and from India in terms of "procurements" maintaining that
major powers do not conduct business in this fashion.
"...In India, the U.S. has a robust defence corporate
presence, mirroring interest by defence firms from other
countries. U.S. firms are now well represented in India; they
conduct their own business. Promoting their wares is not a
responsibility of my office," he said.
"Naturally, we are pleased with India's nearly USD 1
billion contract signed to procure C-130s; you are aware that
delivery of the V.V.I.P. Aircraft is also under way. India's
five year cycle for allocation of central government funds has
begun to be understood by U.S. firms, and they now work within
the Indian procurement cycle.
"Rounding out India's defence procurement mirrors the
rounding out of India's security relationships in the wider
world. America has a place in both trends. The trend is
running towards more involvement: consider the bid for 126
M.R.C.A.s (Multi Role Combat Aircraft) for example. The
announced list of India's own armed forces procurement
preferences speaks for itself," Clad said. PTI SK
Washington, Sept 8 (PTI) Ahead of Defence Minister A. K. Antony's crucial visit, the U.S. Sunday said its military and security ties with India were "here to stay" as they were based on "shared interests" and brushed off the notion that it was moving closer to New Delhi as a "counter weight" to China.
"It is a visit that is a part of a larger process of interaction" and was set up "very well in Secretary Robert Gates' visit to New Delhi at the end of February which by all accounts a very successful trip," Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence, James Clad, told P.T.I.
Antony will be the first Indian minister to visit
Washington after the Nuclear Suppliers Group (N.S.G.) granted
the India-specific waiver on Saturday for nuclear commerce,
giving the go-ahead for the implementation of the landmark
Indo-U.S. civil nuclear deal.
He is being accompanied by a "very broad spectrum of
Indian senior military services interest and procurement"
during his four-day visit beginning Sunday but "it will be a
mistake to regard the trip as a procurement trip," said the
senior Pentagon official who overseas the Asia Pacific area,
including India.
Noting that "the security relationship we have with India
is one that is based on shared interests," he said "it may
sound like a vague formulation of words but in the range of
security cooperation India has with the outside world, it is
with the United States that the interaction is most
variegated."
"It stretches across the services, it involves
interaction in exercises with the army, the Navy (Malabar is
coming up again) and of course the Red Flag (Air Force) was
highly successful. Our people in the Air Force are (at) awe
with the Indian capability and this is the kind of steady
progression," Clad maintained.
The senior Defence Department official brushed off the
notion that the United States is moving closer to India as
some kind of a "counter weight" to China or is involved in
some kind of a "balancing" act.
"It is absolutely important to raise this question
because I hear shallow so-called 'explanations' of India-US
security relations based on a notion of some kind of Chinese
bogeyman," Clad said.
"The first reason this is simple minded is because India
would never allow itself to be used as some type of large
piece on the Geopolitical chessboard. India makes its own
security and geopolitical determinations, and its own
engagement with China proceeds on well-reasoned grounds, as
does ours."
As an emerging power, China requires continuing
evaluation and assessment, he said. "As great powers, India
and the United States must take account of capability trends
in their neighbourhoods and in areas of strategic concern, and
China's capabilities and intentions are a matter of interest
to our allies, security partners and friends across the
breadth of Asia -- and beyond."
"As someone who felt years ago that deepening security
and defence ties between our two countries was inevitable, I'm
glad to help reinforce these inevitable, irreversible trend
lines. With India, we are rounding out security connections
rather than planning to counter any particular country," Clad
added.
"This sophisticated agenda is lightyears from some kind
of crude anti-China line-up. The Secretary of Defence of the
United States of America would be the very first person to
reject such a formulation; under his stewardship we have
continued and deepened policies of engagement with both major
and minor countries, understanding that the net effect of this
adds to our common international security."
Stating that the Pentagon is "delighted" to have Antony
here, he said "... we are going to be receiving him in full
military honours at the express request of Secretary Gates."
Asked about the message with which the Indian Defence
Minister should leave after his visit, he said the visit
should be a confirmation that the defence and security
relationship is "here to stay -- both in the externalities of
India's reach into the world as well as in the more narrow
sense of a rising trend of defence procurement and interaction
between our armed services."
"...We don't have to do any work to 'sell' to our
military a deeper relationship with India. They are keen to
move ahead," Clad said.
"We are past the point where we have to talk up the
relationship or brief people why it matters. We are at a point
where the relationship has a self sustaining momentum.
Therefore visits add to it, but the absence of a visit does
not substract from it," the senior Defence Department official
said.
Clad said that "in many, many ways we are at a level of
engagement with India that simply points to a deepening
involvement in the future."
He argued that to say that the United States did not
care about any time tension rose in the sub-continent would be
"nonsense".
"Obviously when there is a situation of tensions within
the sub-continent the United States has to be very careful to
protect its particular relationships. That is not to deny
there is no pressure as and when the sub-continent's tensions
increase. That would be nonsense," he said.
Clad argued that it is necessary to look past visits to
and from India in terms of "procurements" maintaining that
major powers do not conduct business in this fashion.
"...In India, the U.S. has a robust defence corporate
presence, mirroring interest by defence firms from other
countries. U.S. firms are now well represented in India; they
conduct their own business. Promoting their wares is not a
responsibility of my office," he said.
"Naturally, we are pleased with India's nearly USD 1
billion contract signed to procure C-130s; you are aware that
delivery of the V.V.I.P. Aircraft is also under way. India's
five year cycle for allocation of central government funds has
begun to be understood by U.S. firms, and they now work within
the Indian procurement cycle.
"Rounding out India's defence procurement mirrors the
rounding out of India's security relationships in the wider
world. America has a place in both trends. The trend is
running towards more involvement: consider the bid for 126
M.R.C.A.s (Multi Role Combat Aircraft) for example. The
announced list of India's own armed forces procurement
preferences speaks for itself," Clad said. PTI SK
