‘US planned to back India over dispute with China’

NEW DELHI: Two years before the military standoff on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the US framed a strategy for the IndoPacific that envisaged offering diplomatic and military support to India to address challenges such as the border dispute with China, according to a newly declassified US national security document.

In early 2018, US President Donald Trump endorsed the strategy developed by the National Security Council throughout 2017. A national security briefing prepared by the White House, which was classified “secret” and “not for foreign nationals”, was declassified last week and will be released on Wednesday.

Australia’s public service broadcaster ABC News obtained the document on Tuesday.

The US planned to “offer support to India through diplomatic, military and intelligence channels — to help address continental challenges such as the border dispute with China”, ABC News reported, citing the document.

The US objective is to “accelerate India’s rise and capacity to serve as a net provider of security” by building “a stronger foundation for defense cooperation and interoperability; expand our defense trade and ability to transfer defense technology”.

The document also referred to the need to “align our [US] IndoPacific strategy with those of Australia, India and Japan”, of deepening the US’s cooperation with Japan and Australia, and a quadrilateral security relationship with India.

Over the past three years, the US has signed three key defence agreements, one at each of the 2+2 ministerial meetings, to facilitate the real-time sharing of sensitive military information and transfer of sophisticated technology. These agreements are the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA), the Industrial Security Annex to the General Security of Military Information Agreement, and the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA).

During the same event, Juster had said the US was “very supportive” amid the India-China border standoff but declined to go into details.