WEB DESK

United States and India will work together to support their shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific. This was stated by the Biden Administration’s National Security Strategy, a declassified version of which was released last night. It said, as India is the world’s largest democracy and a major defence partner, the US and India will work together, bilaterally and multilaterally, to support our shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific. The strategy has identified China as one of the major threats to American national security. The strategy has reaffirmed US’ iron-clad commitments to its Indo-Pacific treaty allies – Australia, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Thailand. It said the US will continue to modernise these alliances.

The US, India and several other world powers have been talking about the need to ensure a free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China’s rising military manoeuvring in the region.

China claims nearly all of the disputed South China Sea, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it.