India Faces ‘Very Significant Challenges’ From China, Says US

New Delhi: Releasing its Indo-Pacific Strategic Report, the White House said that India is beset with significant geopolitical challenges in particular from China and its behaviour on the Line of Actual Control.

President Joe Biden-led administration’s strategic report, released on Friday, is the first region-specific report. The report outlines Biden’s vision to firmly anchor the United States’ position in the Indo-Pacific. It aims at strengthening the region and supporting India’s rise and regional leadership in the process.

“We will continue to build a strategic partnership in which the United States and India work together and through regional groupings to promote stability in South Asia; collaborate in new domains such as health, space, and cyberspace; deepen our economic and technology cooperation; and contribute to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” said the White House.

“We recognise that India is a like-minded partner and leader in South Asia and the Indian Ocean, active in and connected to Southeast Asia, a driving force of the Quad and other regional fora, and an engine for regional growth and development,” the White House statement was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

“But India faces very significant challenges. China’s behaviour on the Line of Actual Control has had a galvanizing impact on India. From our standpoint, we see tremendous opportunities in working with another democracy – with a country that has a maritime tradition that understands the importance of the global commons – to advance critical issues in the region,” said a White House official.

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