Post Galwan, India, US to hold first high-level meet

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 24

The first high-level India-US interaction, involving Cabinet ministers and industry captains, to be held virtually later this week will set the framework for bilateral cooperation in the post-Galwan Valley environment.

Countering China

Week-long virtual conference to focus on economic and strategic spheres and countering China's communication and infrastructure building spree in the Asia Pacific

The deliberations will feed into a joint meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers of both countries expected later next month, said sources.

US Vice-President Mike Pence, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, Commerce Minister Piyush Goel and captains of industry, including from the US defence industry, will address a week-long virtual conference on a raft of subjects in the economic and strategic spheres at the third summit of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum.

The interaction is expected to see firm statements of intent from the newly-created US International Development Finance Corporation about countering China's communication and infrastructure building spree in the Asia Pacific.

India has gone along with the US-Japan-Australia troika's formulations on the security side in South China Sea but is keen to give a push to the economic leg.

The latter aspect is also being deliberated in the run up to a virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, said sources. The possibility of Abe stepping down on health grounds is unlikely to make a difference to the dynamics of Indo-Japan ties which enjoy all-round support in Tokyo.

The Indo-US two plus two talks will follow the India-Japan summit and will be co-chaired from the Indian side by Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mark Esper from the US side.

The US and Australia recently held a similar two plus two meeting in Washington that saw Canberra pushing back at some of the US aggression on South China Sea. However, there is alignment on the fundamentals of stalling China's attempt to dominate South China Sea and become a world leader in 5G technology.

from The Tribune https://ift.tt/2QoAO78