New Delhi (NVI): The US is very eager to help India become and remain a “world-class power” in contributing to net security rather than worrying about it and how it affects their interests, US Deputy Secretary Stephen Biegun has said.
Speaking at the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum yesterday, Biegun said this can be achieved through defense cooperation.
The US Deputy Secretary was responding to a question from former US Ambassador to India Richard Verma on whether the US can do more on defense cooperation, export controls and technology transfer.
A Net Security Provider is one that tackles its own security concerns by enhancing the mutual security of more than one country. This is done by addressing common security concerns, including dealing with transnational piracy, or responding to disasters, etc.
In the Indian context the term net security provider was first used by the Americans. In the present scenario, India is committed to be a ‘net security provider’ in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). India’s role as a net security provider in the IOR is at present very crucial when China is flexing its muscle in the region.
Biegun said that one of the countervailing trends is India’s appropriate desire to be more self-sufficient in defense. “No country wants to be entirely dependent upon other parties. Even in a partnership as close as the United States and India, there are times in which that – which that can be tested by other events in the regions – in the region or in the country,” he said.
“And so I understand that, but I think it can’t come at the exclusion of giving India the best-in-class defense capabilities, and I think India’s going to find a very willing and creatively thinking partner in the United States in the weeks and months ahead in that exact area,” he added.
The US Deputy secretary also highlighted the importance of strong India-US ties for the success of US Indo-Pacific strategy. He said the US requires India to stand by its side for the success of its strategy of a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
“Our new Indo-Pacific strategy is the importance of having a strategy that reflects the realities of the modern world, and the Indo-Pacific strategy is focused around democracies. It’s focused around free markets. It’s focused upon the values that the Indian government and the Indian people share with the United States government and the United States people.
“In order to make that successful we have to tap into the full scale of the region. That includes the scale of economics, the scale of security cooperation, and that’s impossible to do without India as a centerpiece of the strategy. So as important as I’d like to think the United States is to this strategy, it’s not going to be successful for us without India also standing side by side,” he said.
Biegun further stated that India has shown tremendous leadership and interest in contributing in its own right to the Indo-Pacific strategy the the US is advancing. He said India and the United States have deepened security cooperation and are in the process of seeking an even broader economic relationship through including some dimensions of trade liberalization.
“And we’re also working very closely in the security sphere, most recently India clearly indicating an intention to invite Australia to participate in the Malabar naval exercises, which will be a tremendous step forward in ensuring the freedom of passage and the security of the seas in the Indo-Pacific,” he said.
Responding to another question in Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), Biegun said that it represents four extraordinarily solid democracies in the world- the United States, India, Australia, and Japan.
“I think that’s critically important because while interests will drive all our nations to make choices in the policy sphere in the Indo-Pacific and beyond, shared values that complement shared interests create a solid foundation. And so at its core, what the Quad is is a combination of democracies,” he said.
Apart from that, the US Deputy secretary also said that a quad ministerial meet between India, the US, Australia and Japan is being planned and is expected to take place in Delhi.
-ARK
