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Military ties with India based on shared interests: US
Sun-Sep 07, 2008
Washington / Press Trust of India
Ahead of Defence Minister A K Antony's crucial visit, the US said on Sunday that 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 PTI.
Antony will be the first Indian minister to visit Washington after the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) granted the India-specific waiver on Saturday for nuclear commerce, giving the go-ahead for the implementation of the landmark Indo-US 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 today 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."
Diplomatic bonhomie
"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 PTI.
Antony will be the first Indian minister to visit Washington after the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) granted the India-specific waiver on Saturday for nuclear commerce, giving the go-ahead for the implementation of the landmark Indo-US 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 today 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."
Diplomatic bonhomie
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."
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 US has a robust defence corporate presence, mirroring interest by defence firms from other countries. US 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 $1 billion contract signed to procure C-130s; you are aware that delivery of the VVIP Aircraft is also under way. India's five year cycle for allocation of central government funds has begun to be understood by US 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 MRCAs (Multi Role Combat Aircraft) for example. The announced list of India's own armed forces procurement preferences speaks for itself," Clad said.
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."
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 US has a robust defence corporate presence, mirroring interest by defence firms from other countries. US 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 $1 billion contract signed to procure C-130s; you are aware that delivery of the VVIP Aircraft is also under way. India's five year cycle for allocation of central government funds has begun to be understood by US 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 MRCAs (Multi Role Combat Aircraft) for example. The announced list of India's own armed forces procurement preferences speaks for itself," Clad said.
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