India Faces 'Very Significant Challenges', Especially From China, Warns US
NDTV
The strategic report was released as a Quad Ministerial is underway in Australia; foreign ministers from Australia, India, Japan and the US on Friday expressed concerns over the malign Chinese role in the region.
India is beset with significant geopolitical challenges, in particular from China and its behaviour on the Line of Actual Control, the White House has said, while releasing its Indo-Pacific Strategic Report.
The strategic report, released on Friday, is the President Joe Biden-led administration's first region specific report. It outlines the president's vision to firmly anchor the United States' position in the Indo-Pacific, strengthen the region and support India's rise and regional leadership in the process.
"We will continue to build a strategic partnership in which the United States and India work together and through regional groupings to promote stability in South Asia; collaborate in new domains such as health, space, and cyberspace; deepen our economic and technology cooperation; and contribute to a free and open Indo-Pacific," the White House said.
"We recognise that India is a like-minded partner and leader in South Asia and the Indian Ocean, active in and connected to Southeast Asia, a driving force of the Quad and other regional fora, and an engine for regional growth and development," the White House statement added. However, a senior US official, on condition of anonymity, pointed out the significant challenges New Delhi is beset with.
