Why India’s closer ties to US need not harm relations with China
- The US$3 billion arms deal sealed during Donald Trump’s visit to India is motivated in part by a desire to form a strategic counterweight to Beijing
- But military observers note Narendra Modi wants to carve out a role as an independent player and has no desire to alienate China
The latest US$3 billion US-Indian arms deal is partly motivated by their shared desire to check China’s strategic desires, but defence analysts said this closeness did not mean New Delhi wished to isolate Beijing.
The new arms deal, including the sale of 24 MH-60 Romeo Seahawk helicopters and six Ah-64E Apache attack helicopters, was concluded following US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The decades-long rivalry with Pakistan is Indian’s biggest strategic concern, but Chaturvedy Rajeev Ranjan, a visiting fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said the growing Chinese influence in the region was also an important factor in the arms deal and other strategic agreements between the two.
“The deal is commensurate with India’s willingness to play a leading role as a net security provider ... It will greatly enhance Indian navy’s anti-submarine warfare capability” he said.
“Deepening India-US friendship underlines a steady and substantial progress in this important relationship.”