Defence, Foreign Ministers’ talks come day ahead of 2+2 meet today
India and the US on Monday reviewed the entire range of strategic and defence ties, besides the growing expansionist behaviour of China during the separate meetings between the Defence and Foreign Ministers of the two nations. The bilateral meetings came a day ahead of the high profile 2+2 ministerial level meeting on Tuesday when the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) will be signed paving the way for the Indian armed forces to access real-time precision data and topographical images from US military satellites.
In both the bilateral meetings that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had with their counterparts Mark Esper and Mike Pompeo, the common refrain was the growing ties between the two countries and concern over China’s aggressive designs in many theatres of the world, including Ladakh and the South China Sea.
In the hour-long meeting between Rajnath and Esper, the two sides reviewed bilateral defence cooperation spanning military to military cooperation, secure communication systems and information sharing, defence trade and industrial issues and also discussed ways to take bilateral cooperation forward. The three Services chiefs and Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat were present during the delegation-level talks.
Earlier, Esper was given a guard of honour at the South Block housing the Defence Ministry.
The two Ministers expressed satisfaction that BECA will be signed during the visit. The US also welcomed Australia’s participation in the exercise MALABAR 2020 later this year in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. Four navies, including India, US, Japan and Australia, will take part in the naval exercise. The participation of Australia earlier in 2007 had led to China expressing it reservations.
The signing of BECA will see the US sharing advanced satellite and topographical data for navigation for missiles in the military sphere.
Called foundational agreement, the two countries have already signed three such pacts including the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) and the Communications, Compatibility and Security Arrangement (COMCASA) in the past few years. On Tuesday, besides BECA, the two countries may also sign the Maritime Information Sharing Technical Arrangement (MISTA). This will enable enhanced navy to navy communication between India and the US.
Both the Ministers expressed satisfaction at the close engagements between the respective Armed Forces. They discussed potential new areas of cooperation, both at Service to Service level and at the joint level. They called for continuation of existing defence dialogue mechanisms during the pandemic, at all levels, particularly the Military Cooperation Group (MCG). They also discussed requirements of expanding deployments of liaison officers.
After his meeting with Pompeo, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar tweeted: “We discussed key bilateral, regional & global issues. Reviewed progress in ties: grown substantially in every domain. Our foreign policy consultations & cooperation have expanded. Working closely on plurilateral & multilateral formats.”
After the 2+2 talks on Tuesday, Pompeo and Esper will call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval. The two countries are likely to issue a joint statement after the conference listing the major achievements. Incidentally, Pompeo and Jaishankar had met in Tokyo earlier this month during the Quad Foreign Ministers’ meet.
Last week, the US said it was watching the India-China standoff in Ladakh closely and sharing information with Delhi. The US said it wanted to ensure that the situation did not escalate.
Tuesday, 27 October 2020 | PNS | New Delhi
