Affirming U. S. as ‘trusted’ partner for tech, India sends message to China

Outlining a shared vision of “creating secure and trusted telecommunications” and “resilient supply chains” in the ambitious joint statement released in Washington, India has in the clearest terms yet both affirmed the U.S. as a “trusted” long-term partner in its plans for developing critical technologies and also sent a clear signal closing the door to China and its tech companies.

Outlining a shared vision of “creating secure and trusted telecommunications” and “resilient supply chains” in the ambitious joint statement released in Washington, India has in the clearest terms yet both affirmed the U. S. as a “trusted” long-term partner in its plans for developing critical technologies and also sent a clear signal closing the door to China and its tech companies.

“President Biden and Prime Minister Modi share a vision of creating secure and trusted telecommunications, resilient supply chains, and enabling global digital inclusion. To fulfil this vision, the leaders launched two Joint Task Forces on advanced telecommunications, focused on Open RAN and research and development in 5G/6G technologies,” the joint statement said, adding that public-private cooperation between vendors and operators will be led by India’s Bharat 6G Alliance and the U.S. Next G Alliance. 

The two leaders also “endorsed an ambitious vision for 6G networks, including standards cooperation, facilitating access to chipsets for system development, and establishing joint research and development projects.”

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Both described the signing of an MoU on the semiconductor supply chain as “a significant step in the coordination of our countries’ semiconductor incentive programs”. They also stressed the need to put in place a “Trusted Network/Trusted Sources” bilateral framework.”

“Trusted” has been a recurring and key theme during the ongoing visit. As External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said on Friday, Mr. Modi’s address to the U.S. Congress had “underlined that the India-U.S. relationship has moved from the ‘hesitations of history’”, which Mr. Modi had referred to in his 2016 address to Congress, “to ‘trusted geographies’”, seven years later.

This has also coincided with a broader debate in the region in assessing risk while rolling out new technologies and in governing and managing data flows, by opening doors to only “trusted” geographies.