'India needs US as ally': Mike Pompeo calls for closer ties with New Delhi, cites Chinese threat

-

Washington: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday urged closer ties with India as he warned of China's growing might on its doorstep, amid a flurry of diplomacy between the world's two largest democracies.

"They absolutely need the United States to be their ally and partner in this fight," Pompeo said of his four-way meetings earlier this week in Tokyo with his counterparts from India, Japan and Australia.

"The Chinese have now begun to amass huge forces against India in the north," Pompeo told radio host Larry O'Connor.

"The world has awakened. The tide's begun to turn. And the United States under President Donald Trump's leadership has now built out a coalition that will push back against the threat," he said.

Following the Tokyo meeting, Pompeo will travel shortly to New Delhi with Defense Secretary Mark Esper for annual talks with their Indian counterparts.

Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun will also travel to India next week to prepare the meeting, the State Department said.

Tensions have soared between India and China since violent hand-to-hand fighting in the Himalayan region of Ladakh in June that left 20 Indian troops dead.

China has acknowledged suffering casualties but has not revealed any figures.

Citing national security grounds, New Delhi has since banned dozens of Chinese apps including TikTok, the blockbuster video-sharing platform which had counted on India as its largest overseas market.

Despite wide concerns about China, India has historically shied away from formal alliances with outside powers under its doctrine of "strategic autonomy."

Asked at the conservative Heritage Foundation about tensions with China, India's ambassador to the United States, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, stressed that the Asian powers had historic linkages and welcomed each other's scholars.

US-India ties have been rapidly growing and "this relationship has a much wider perspective than simply China," Sandhu said.

But he said he expected India and the United States to discuss boosting defense ties during the visit by Pompeo and Esper.

"I would underline that there is a great further potential for our defense cooperation," he said.



from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/2FhE0zt
The Associated Press

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Both COVID-19 vaccine doses needed for good protection against B16172 variant

-
It’s been a concerning few weeks in the UK, with the B16172 variant first taking hold and then spreading to become dominant. This more infectious form of the virus, initially identified in India, is what we’re now going to have to live with – unless it is out-competed by another variant in the future. Worryingly, experts had predicted that B16172 might be able to escape some of the effects of vaccines, which if true would threaten to derail the UK’s plans to finish lifting restrictions from the end of June. However, Public Health England (PHE) has looked at the ability of various variants to evade immunity and says that the UK’s vaccines remain effective against the variants circulating, including B16172. On the surface, this looks like good news. But delve a bit deeper, and things get more complicated, says Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia. PHE’s research found a little drop-off in protection against B16172 among people who were fully vaccinated.
Read more

New coronavirus variant emerge in India: How should our COVID response change?

-
Image
After genome sequencing of over 10,000 COVID-19 cases in India, researchers have discovered a new variant with two new mutations which may be better at evading the immune system. In 15-20 percent of samples from the Indian state of Maharashtra (the state accounting for 62 percent of cases in the country) a new, double mutation in key areas of the virus has been detected. These are now known as the E484Q and L452R mutations. What makes the variant different? Both these mutations are concerning because they are located in a key portion of the virus – the spike protein – that it uses to penetrate human cells. Spike proteins attach via a “receptor binding domain”, meaning the virus can attach to receptors in our cells. These new mutations include changes to the spike protein that make it a “better fit” for human cells. This means the virus can gain entry more easily and multiply faster. Given what we have seen with other similar mutations , it might also make it harder for our immu
Read more

120 flights delayed, 30 trains running late; Delhi fog & cold wave continue to give shiver to travellers

-
Arrival and departure of 120 flights, both domestic and international, to Delhi airport were affected due to dense fog and cold wave conditions on Wednesday, according to Delhi Airport FIDS (Flight Information Display System). As per the Delhi Airport FIDS, a total of 53 flights, including 21 domestic arrivals, 16 domestic departures, 13 international departures and three international arrivals scheduled are cancelled and not operating due to fog and other operational reasons from and to Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in the national capital on 17 January. #WATCH | Delhi: Several flight operations delayed at IGI airport due to low visibility amid fog. pic.twitter.com/hG1DUKllEt — ANI (@ANI) January 17, 2024 Visuals from the Delhi airport showed passengers waiting outside, checking update of their scheduled flights. There were also some people waiting for flight of their families, friends and loved ones to arrive, which got delayed due to fog. #WATCH | Delhi | Pas
Read more