Top US officials Blinken and Austin visit India for Indo-Pacific talks. This week, India will host meetings between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. According to authorities, the discussions will center on Indo-Pacific security issues, and China’s worries rather than the ongoing hostilities in Gaza and Ukraine.

The “2+2 Dialogue” was initiated in 2018 to enhance defense cooperation and harmonize policy objectives in the Indo-Pacific area. On Friday, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh met in New Delhi as part of this dialogue.

Although India has faced pressure from the United States to collaborate with Ottawa in the murder probe, officials stated that the diplomatic feud between the two countries over the death of a Canadian Sikh separatist leader is not anticipated to impact the conversation.

According to an American person familiar with the Indo-Pacific strategy, U.S. officials were acting quickly to strengthen their relations with India. They were also committing to supporting an inquiry into the June killing that occurred on Canadian soil. An Indian government official aware of the agenda stated that the “key focus points” will be China and the broader Indo-Pacific region. He also mentioned that defense cooperation, particularly the cooperative production of defense equipment, would be covered.

Agreements to supply and produce engines for Indian fighter planes, MQ-9 predator drones, and semiconductor manufacturing are being worked out between the two nations.

According to insiders, the conversations would continue where they left off following President Joe Biden’s travel to New Delhi for the G20 conference in September and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s triumphant June visit to Washington. Since neither official had the right to talk to the media, they both spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The conversation precedes Biden’s anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in San Francisco at the end of this month, as well as Biden’s potential visit back to New Delhi in January.

“DIFFERING APPROACHES”

Director of South Asia Initiatives at the Asia Society Policy Institute, Farwa Aamer, noted that the discussion had “seen remarkable progress, particularly in the realm of defense cooperation,” where co-production and technology transfer were now the main topics.

India has significant strategic relations with Israel and has been strengthening its ties with the United States on several fronts. However, New Delhi has also strengthened its economic ties with Middle Eastern nations that produce gas and oil while also cautiously maintaining its long-standing links with Russia.

Given these factors, Rick Rossow, an expert on India at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, predicted that the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine and India’s tense relations with Canada would not affect strategic discussions between Washington and New Delhi.

According to Rossow, “our differing approaches to Bangladesh’s upcoming election, how we are separately engaging the junta in Myanmar, the new “pro-China” government in the Maldives, and potential instability in Sri Lanka and Nepal” are more important to India and have a stronger connection to bilateral relations with the United States.