India, US decide to expand strategic ties

New Delhi: India and the US on Friday vowed to deepen their strategic partnership by shoring defence and security ties and boosting cooperation in the Indo-Pacific in the face of China's increasing military muscle-flexing even as they rolled out plans to jointly manufacture an armoured infantry vehicle.

In the fifth annual '2+2' ministerial dialogue, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and their American counterparts Lloyd Austin and Antony Blinken explored ways to support India's goal of becoming a global hub of defence manufacturing



and develop cutting-edge technology to address critical security needs.

The situation in the Middle-East in view of the Hamas-Israel conflict, the Russia-Ukraine war, China's aggressive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific and the overall regional security challenges figured prominently at the talks.  

At a media briefing, Austin said both sides talked about the increasing security challenges posed by China and that India and the US have a common goal of a free and open Indo-Pacific.