The new initiative between India and the US also includes a joint space effort. (File)
Washington:
The White House on Tuesday is launching a partnership with India that President Joe Biden hopes will help the countries compete with China in military equipment, semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI).
Washington wants to deploy more Western cellphone networks in the subcontinent to counter China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, to welcome more Indian computer chip specialists to the United States and to encourage companies from both countries to collaborate on military equipment such as artillery systems.
Still, the White House faces an uphill battle on every front, including US restrictions on military technology transfers and visas for immigrant workers, along with India’s longtime reliance on Moscow for military hardware, issues it now hopes to address.
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and his Indian counterpart, Ajit Doval, meet senior officials from both countries at the White House on Tuesday to launch the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies.
“China’s greater challenge — its economic practices, its aggressive military moves, its efforts to dominate the industries of the future and control the supply chains of the future — have had a profound impact on Delhi thinking,” Sullivan said.
“This is another important fundamental part of an overall strategy to put the entire democratic world in the Indo-Pacific in a position of strength…it is a strategic bet by the two leaders…on the idea that creating a deeper ecosystem between the United States and India will serve our strategic, economic and technological interests.”
New Delhi has frustrated Washington by participating in military exercises with Russia and ramping up the country’s purchase of crude oil, a key source of funding for Russia’s war in Ukraine. But Washington kept quiet, pushing the country towards Russia while approving India’s more aggressive stance on China.
On Monday, Sullivan and Doval attended a Chamber of Commerce event with executives from Lockheed Martin Corp, Adani Enterprises and Applied Materials Inc.
While India is part of the Biden administration’s signature Asian Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) engagement project on supply chains, clean energy and anti-corruption, it has opted not to participate in IPEF’s trade pillar negotiations .
The new initiative also includes a joint effort in space and high-performance quantum computing.
Meanwhile, General Electric Co is asking the US government for permission to partner with India to produce jet engines that would power aircraft operated and manufactured by India, according to the White House, which says a review is underway.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
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