US Defence Secretary accuses China of bullying other nations during India visit

US secretary of defence Lloyd Austin claimed on Monday that China is bullying and coercing nations, threatening their national sovereignty, and trying to “redraw borders by force” throughout the world.

Addressing a press conference after holding a bilateral meeting with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the US Defence Secretary said, “We face a rapidly changing world. We see bullying and coercion from China, Russian aggression against Ukraine that seeks to redraw borders by force and threatens national sovereignty, as well as transnational challenges, such as terrorism and climate change.”

The significance of cooperative military drills between the US and India was emphasised uopn by the US Defence Secretary.

“So democracies must now rally together around not just our common interest, but also our shared values. Preserving and protecting the freedoms that are essential to peace and prosperity will require vigorous leadership from the United States and India. And so we still have a lot of work to do, but I am confident that the US-India Partnership will help to secure an open and prosperous future for the Indo-Pacific and the wider world,” he added.

Austin and Rajnath Singh came to an agreement on a framework for defence industrial cooperation today, a day after Austin landed in India. The plan for the upcoming years will highlight potential for the two nations to collaborate more closely on the co-production of new and existing systems as well as on the co-development of novel technology.

Austin recently criticised China for its activities in the area while noting that the confrontation in the Taiwan Strait would be terrible in his speech at the Shangri-La Security Summit in Singapore.

“Our policy is constant and firm. It has held true across U.S. administrations. And we will continue to categorically oppose unilateral changes to the status quo from either side. I’d also highlight that conflict is neither imminent or inevitable. Deterrence is strong today–and it’s our job to keep it that way,” Austin said at the Shangri-La Security Summit in Singapore on Saturday.

“You know, the whole world has a stake in maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait–the whole world. The security of commercial shipping lanes and global supply chains depends on it. And so does freedom of navigation world-wide.But make no mistake: conflict in the Taiwan Strait would be devastating,” he said in his remarks ‘A Shared Vision for the Indo-Pacific’ in Singapore.

Austin said earlier today that the US and India’s worldwide strategic cooperation has continued to expand quickly. The cooperation between India and the US provides the basis for a free and open Indo-Pacific. An ambitious strategy for US-India defence industry cooperation has been devised by both countries.

Speaking of his discussion with the defence minister, he said that they had addressed INDUS-X, a crucial new programme intended to kick-start collaborations between the US and Indian defence innovation industries.

According to a statement made by the Defence Ministry, Austin and Rajnath Singh looked into ways to create robust supply networks.

Both sides decided “to identify opportunities for the co-development of new technologies and co-production of existing and new systems and facilitate increased collaboration between defence start-up ecosystems of the two countries”.

They also discussed regional security issues given their shared interest in maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, addressing a press conference today, Austin responding to a query on the ongoing Russian Ukaraine conflict said, “It’s been widely reported that Russia has constructed defences along the border of the occupied territory. And those defences, in many cases, are defences in depth. So we see several lines of fortifications, ditches, dragon’s teeth prepared positions, those kinds of things.”

“In some cases, it’s a fairly significant preparation there, but I would say that they have to defend against a pretty significant across a pretty significant area. So they probably can’t be strong in every place. So it’s incumbent upon the Ukrainians to find those points of advantage that they can leverage and exploit. So we’ll see what happens.”

Rajnath Singh and Lloyd Austin discussed their “robust and multifaceted” bilateral defence cooperation efforts during their meeting, and they decided to keep the momentum going.

Rajnath Singh stated on Twitter after the meeting that the discussions focused on advancing defence cooperation in a number of areas, such as the alignment of strategic interests and improved security cooperation.

“India-US partnership is critical for ensuring a free, open and rules-bound Indo-Pacific region. We look forward to closely work with the US across the domains for capacity building and further consolidating our strategic partnership,” Singh tweeted.

The recent initial discussions on defence artificial intelligence and defence space were well received by the two leaders. Singh and Austin talked about regional security issues in light of their common desire to keep the Indo-Pacific area peaceful and stable.

Senior members of the Ministry of Defence, including the Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, the Secretary of Defence Giridhar Aramane, the Secretary of the Department of Defence Research and Development, and the Chairman of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Dr. Samir V. Kamat, attended the meeting.

Austin, who arrived in Delhi from Singapore on Sunday, looked over a Tri-Services Guard of Honour earlier today when the Defence Minister was present at the Manekshaw Centre in Delhi. Austin is making his second trip to India.

(With agency inputs)

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