Observer Report
New Delhi
The United States and India signed a pact to share sensitive satellite and map data on Tuesday as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned of the threat posed by an increasingly assertive China.
Pompeo, who arrived in New Delhi on Monday along with Defense Secretary Mark Esper, said after talks with their Indian counterparts that the two countries had to work together to confront the threat China posed to security and freedom.
“Big things are happening as our democracies align to better protect the citizens of our two countries and indeed, of the free world,” Pompeo told reporters after the talks with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. The new defence pact – the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement on Geospatial Cooperation – was a “significant mile
stone” that would foster cooperation between the militaries of both countries, Esper told the news conference.
The United States planned to sell more fighter planes and drones to India, Esper added. The pact will give India access to a range of topographical, nautical and aeronautical data that is considered vital for targeting of missiles and armed
drones.
It would also allow the United States to provide advanced navigational aids and avionics on U.S.-supplied aircraft to India, an Indian defence source said.
China dismissed Pompeo’s accusations. “We urge Pompeo to abandon his Cold War mentality, zero-sum mindset, and stop harping on the China threat,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a news briefing in Beijing earlier
on Tuesday.
This month, India invited Australia to join naval drills it holds each year with the United States and Japan, brushing off Chinese concerns that the exercises destabilise the region.
Pompeo and Esper met Modi earlier on Tuesday for talks that included regional stability, a U.S. government spokesman said.
Pakistan has termed a pact signed between United States and India to share sensitive satellite and map data on Tuesday as a development with serious repercussions for peace and stability in South Asia.
“India’s massive acquisition of armaments and expansion of its nuclear forces, including introduction of new destabilising weapon systems, are developments with serious repercussions for peace and stability in South Asia,” it said.
