By Aminul Islam Mirja
NEW DELHI, Oct 21, 2020 (BSS) – US Defense Secretary Mark Esper and
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit New Delhi next week seeking
to further strengthen India-US ties in the face of China’s strategic
challenge.
Mark Esper and Mike Pompeo will visit India for the 2+2 ministerial
dialogue between the defense and foreign ministers of both the
countries to be held on October 26-27 in New Delhi, Indian External
Affairs Ministry sources told BSS today.
The high profile visit of the two important US ministers is being
considered as a significant one amid India’s continuing standoff with
China in Ladakh.
Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Tuesday confirmed his
and Pompeo’s visit to India saying that the visit is part of a broader
US initiative to strengthen older alliances and develop new ones
against Russian and Chinese efforts to build their own global power
networks.
Quoting Mark Esper’s announcement, NDTV reported from Washington,
USA, that the visit will be held with an aim to strengthen the two
countries’ alliance in the face of China’s strategic challenge.
“India will well be the most consequential partner for us, I think,
in the Indo-Pacific for sure, in the century, and look it’s the
world’s largest democracy, a very capable country, very talented
people, and they face off every day, the Chinese aggression in the
Himalayas, specifically along that line of actual control,” Esper
said.
His and Pompeo’s meetings with their Indian counterparts will
reflect the need for “a lot more close collaboration” on challenges in
the Indo-Pacific region, where China is building its presence, he said
while announcing his visit to India.
However, media reports in New Delhi said that during the visit,
India and the US are expected to sign the Basic Exchange and
Cooperation Agreement (BECA) for geospatial cooperation during the
dialogue.
They will also visit Sri Lanka and the Maldives, as America seeks to
balance China’s growing influence in the region, the reports added.
“The BECA is expected to be signed during the meeting between US
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mark Esper with
Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister
Rajnath Singh,” ZEE News reported here at early today.
This will be the third edition of the India-US 2+2 that with India
hosting the first in 2018 in New Delhi; the United States hosted the
second in Washington DC in 2019.