Just a week before the November election, two of President Donald Trump’s top national security advisers will visit India for meetings primarily focused on countering China’s growing global influence. As the bitter race between Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden ends, this week’s talks in New Delhi are aimed at reinforcing the president’s campaign message against China.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper will meet with their Indian counterparts for strategic and security talks on Tuesday, after which Pompeo will travel to Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia. They are all grappling with a tug of war between Washington and Beijing that has escalated as Trump seeks to paint Biden as weak to China.
Trump has played his friendship with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his reelection bid, but may have delayed his case with an impromptu comment on climate change in his debate Thursday with Biden. “Look at China, how dirty it is. Look at Russia. Look at India, it’s dirty. The air is dirty. He said, defending his decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement.
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It is unclear if the Indians will be offended or if it will affect Pompeo and Esper’s mission. However, regardless of electoral considerations, it is a critical moment in the US-India relationship as China looms over what Washington has termed the Indo-Pacific region.
Intense border tensions between New Delhi and Beijing have only added to Sino-American animosity that has been fueled by disputes over the coronavirus, trade, technology, Taiwan, Tibet, Hong Kong, human rights, and disputes between China and its smaller neighbors in the south. China Sea. Those competing maritime and territorial claims will feature prominently at Pompeo’s final stop in Indonesia.
Meanwhile, India seeks to break out of a shell of internal troubles, including unrest in the Himalayan region of Kashmir, as it faces twin threats from China and Pakistan.
Tuesday’s meetings come amid a recent upsurge in military tensions between India and China over the disputed mountainous border with tens of thousands of their soldiers in a clash since May. Trump has offered to help defuse tensions, but has yet to receive any indication of interest from either side. India and China fought a month-long war over the region at the height of the Cuban missile crisis in the fall of 1962, and some fear a similar confrontation before this winter begins.
Pompeo has made no secret of the Trump administration’s desire to isolate China. When asked about his trip, Pompeo said last week: “I am sure my meetings will also include discussions on how free nations can work together to thwart the threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party.”
Before Pompeo and Esper’s visit, Undersecretary of State Stephen Biegun visited New Delhi last week and called China “an elephant in the room,” stressing that Washington is eager to advance India’s interests in the region, build a free and open Indo-Pacific. and the counter risks posed by China’s high-tech telecommunications networks that the United States considers critical to China’s predatory economic activity.
“We will seize every opportunity to truly advocate for a strong digital economy and partnership in the countries we are targeting and seek the support of clean networks, which we believe works to the benefit of all countries,” said Dean Thompson, the top U.S. diplomat for South Asia.
Since Trump took office, the United States and India have steadily intensified their military relationship. When Trump visited India in February, the two sides concluded defense deals worth more than $ 3 billion. Bilateral defense trade has risen from almost zero in 2008 to $ 15 billion in 2019.
Still, India is wary of getting caught up in the fight between the world’s two largest economies. G. Parthasarthy, a retired Indian diplomat, said India was not interested in becoming a front-line state against China. “It is a movement to balance the growing Chinese power in this area. The problem of the border between India and China will not disappear with the increase in Chinese claims, “he said.
The talks in New Delhi on Tuesday follow a meeting Pompeo had earlier this month in Tokyo with his counterparts from India, Japan and Australia, which together make up the four Indo-Pacific nations known as “the Quad.” The Quad is seen as a counterweight to China, which critics say is exerting its military force throughout the region.
Pompeo will return to Washington via Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia, during which he plans to pressure each nation to reject Chinese assertiveness. He is also expected to raise human rights issues at each stop.
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