US and India to boost defense and technology cooperation as China threat grows

Operationally, the US and Indian militaries would seek to build maritime security and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, the fact sheet said. U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks told India's national security adviser Ajit Doval that "building alliances and partnerships is a top priority" for the Pentagon in what she said was "increasingly contentious in the strategic environment of the region," according to a Defense Department statement.

Hicks said building the partnership was a major focus of the US National Defense Strategy 2022, which describes China as a "growing multi-domain threat". While the US has seen China build up its military forces in areas near Taiwan and key US ally Japan, Indian forces have clashed with Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control, an ill-defined border between the two nations high in the Himalayas.

The US and India, along with Japan and Australia, are members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue – known as the Quad – an informal security group that dates back to the early 2000s. It has become more active in recent years as part of efforts to counter China's reach and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific. On the sidelines of the Quad Summit in Tokyo last May, US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET). This week's meetings were the first under the scheme and brought together dozens of government officials, industry executives and senior academics from both countries.

In addition to defense technology, Washington and New Delhi will work to "expand international cooperation in a number of areas -- including artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and advanced wireless networking," according to a White House briefing. The main industrial component of the meeting was an agreement to develop the semiconductor industry in India, which has the educated and skilled workforce needed to become a major player in building these key components. In addition, both countries have pledged to help develop the next generation of telecommunications in India, including advanced 5G and 6G mobile phone technologies.

Washington and New Delhi also agreed to boost cooperation in space, including helping India with astronaut development, its commercial space sector and a role in planetary defense.