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NEW DELHI: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will fly to India next week to strengthen strategic ties with a nation locked in a military showdown with China, in Washington’s latest effort to bolster allies against Beijing. .
As part of a growing pushback against China’s economic and military might in the region, Pompeo will also travel to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, two key Indian Ocean countries struggling with a mountain of Chinese debt incurred to finance large projects in infrastructure.
Pompeo will wrap up his trip, which comes in the last week before the US presidential election, in Indonesia, which is also mired in territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.
“We look forward to strengthening critical relationships with our friends and partners, emphasizing our deep commitment to the Indo-Pacific and promoting our vision for a long-term partnership and prosperity in the region,” said Dean Thompson, Senior Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Foreign Affairs. of Central and South Asia from the State Department.
POTENTIAL BULWARK
Washington has been increasing diplomatic pressure on China, and President Donald Trump has made being tough on Beijing a key part of his campaign to secure a second term.
Pompeo led a meeting of foreign ministers from India, Japan and Australia earlier this month in Tokyo, a grouping that is seen as potentially a bulwark against China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.
Next month, India will host the major naval exercise Malabar, with the participation of the United States, Japan and Australia. China has opposed the exercise in the past.
Beijing said this month that the US’s unprovoked accusations against China displayed a “Cold War mentality.”
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During the trip, in which Pompeo will be accompanied by Defense Secretary Mark Esper, India is expected to sign a military agreement that will give it access to sensitive data from American satellites to help improve missile and drone targeting, Indian officials said. .
“There is great additional potential in our defense cooperation,” said an Indian official.
In Sri Lanka, Pompeo will urge government leaders to reduce reliance on China, which has invested billions of dollars in building ports and roads but has also left the island nation in debt, authorities said.
“DIFFICULT BUT NECESSARY DECISIONS”
Pompeo, who is making the first visit by a US secretary of state in more than a decade, will convey his support for a “strong, independent and democratic Sri Lanka,” Thompson said.
“We urge Sri Lanka to make difficult but necessary decisions to ensure its economic independence for long-term prosperity,” he said.
The island is a key part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, but the government in recent years has sought to improve ties with India, the United States and Japan.
Similar efforts are underway to counter Chinese influence in the Maldives, another set of tropical islands found on key shipping lanes.
“Expected discussions of the visit include the global battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as current and future collaboration,” the government in Malé, the Maldives capital, said in a statement.
Pompeo’s visit to Indonesia comes amid a growing rivalry between the United States and China that is being heavily contested in Southeast Asia, especially in the South China Sea, which China claims as almost entirely its own territory.
Many regional states, including Indonesia, object to the claim.
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Earlier this week, the US State Department approved the possible sale of three weapons systems to Taiwan, including sensors, missiles and artillery, which could be worth a total of $ 1.8 billion.
Taiwan, which China says is a renegade province, also claims much of the South China Sea.
“THERE IS MORE WE CAN DO”
Washington made high-level approaches to Indonesia in late July and early August to grant landing and refueling rights to its P-8 surveillance jets that monitor Chinese military activity on the resource-rich waterway.
The offer, first reported by Reuters, was rejected by Indonesian President Joko Widodo, according to four senior officials.
Indonesia has long pursued a neutral foreign policy and has never allowed its territory to be used as a venue for foreign military operations.
“There are trade issues, security issues, and diplomatic issues where the United States has already improved the relationship between the countries,” Pompeo said this week. “But there is more we can do.”
