US, India tie-up aims to compete with China

The White House yesterday launched a partnership with India that President Joe Biden hopes will help the countries compete against China on military equipment, semiconductors and artificial intelligence.

Washington wants to deploy more Western mobile phone networks in the subcontinent to counter China’s Huawei Technologies, to welcome more Indian computer chip specialists to the US and to encourage companies from both countries to collaborate on military equipment such as artillery systems.

The White House faces an uphill battle on each front, including US restrictions on military technology transfer and visas for immigrant workers, along with India’s longstanding dependence on Moscow for military hardware.

Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and his Indian counterpart, Ajit Doval, met with senior officials from both countries at the White House to launch the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies.

“The larger challenge posed by China — its economic practices, its aggressive military moves, its efforts to dominate the industries of the future and to control the supply chains of the future — have had a profound impact on the thinking in Delhi,” Sullivan said.

Doval will also meet Secretary of State Anthony Blinken during his three-day visit to Washington DC. New Delhi has frustrated Washington by participating in military exercises with Russia and increasing purchases of the country’s crude oil, a key source of funding for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

But Washington has held its tongue, nudging the country on Russia while condoning India’s more hawkish stance on China.

On Monday, Sullivan and Doval participated in a Chamber of Commerce event with corporate leaders from Lockheed Martin Corporation, Adani Enterprises and Applied Materials.