India is beset with significant geopolitical challenges, in particular from China and its behaviour on the Line of Actual Control, the White House has said, while releasing its Indo-Pacific Strategic Report. The strategic report, released on Friday, is the US President Joe Biden-led administration's first region-specific report. It outlines the president's vision to firmly anchor the United States' position in the Indo-Pacific, strengthen the region and support India's rise and regional leadership in the process.
China, the strategic report said, is combining its economic, diplomatic, military, and technological might as it pursues a sphere of influence in the Indo-Pacific and seeks to become the world's most influential power. The Chinese coercion and aggression spans the globe, but it is most acute in the Indo-Pacific, it said.
Nearly a fortnight after the 14th round of corps commander level talks between India and China on the situation along the Line of Actual Control, China hit out at the US, claiming that it would not brook third-party interference.
The US had, a day before the talks, expressed concern about Beijing's destabilising behaviour and attempts to intimidate its neighbours. The comments were made by President Joe Biden's press secretary Jan Psaki at a briefing, in which she also stressed that the US would continue to stand with its partners.
On Thursday, a senior colonel and spokesperson of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) hit out against the American comments, saying China was firmly opposed to the US using coercive diplomacy with other countries.
Why is China invoking the US in its bilateral issues with India? China claims that the last round of talks was positive and constructive. The joint declaration at the end of the talks says that the two sides agreed to remain in close contact and to maintain dialogue to work out a mutually acceptable resolution.
Two long winters in the bleak trans Himalayan region of Ladakh have been tough for both armies. The repeated rounds of talks, which aren't leading anywhere, are also getting frustrating. Amid this, China is getting antsy about India's robust partnership with the US; it has made its opinions about the Quad and Indo Pacific clear on several occasions. China considers the Indo-Pacific to be a concept created to keep it out of the region and believes that the Quad has military intentions. The formation of the AUKUS trilateral (Australia, US and US), which is most definitely a military tie-up, hasn't come as good news to China, either.
-Inputs from agencies
