Pompeo minced no words on China’s threat to the world — its hegemonic designs, The Wuhan Virus and its constant aggressiveness in the South China Sea, and the on India’s northern borders. He stressed on the need for the US and India to work together to counter the threat posed by Beijing to “security and freedom.” He said in his speech in New Delhi – “Our friendship and commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific was clearly, clearly highly on display when we were in Tokyo this past week and a half for the Quad meeting that Minister Jaishankar and I had with our Australian and Japanese friends earlier this month.”

Pompeo reiterated that the US will stand with India as it confronts threats to its sovereignty and liberty.

Interestingly, he also talked about how India belonged in the UN Security Council and the US will support India’s bid to be in it.

As in the dialogue last year, the joint statement denounced the terror proxies of Pakistan and strongly condemned cross-border terrorism including naming Al Qaeda, ISIS, LeT, Jem and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.

Weirdly, The Global Times, a Chinese Communist mouthpiece reported that Chinese experts had said that since most of India’s weapons are from Russia, the US services offered to India may be incompatible. Wishful thinking China.

How can an Eye in the Sky be incompatible? So much for Chinese scientists and their bogus claims.

According to Dawn newspaper which reported on Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) statement, the establishment is clearly worried. It reported- ‘The agreement called Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) was signed at the third edition of India-US 2+2 talks held in Delhi. The accord will enable India to access precision topographical, nautical, and aeronautical data and topographical images from US military satellites on a real-time basis. The data could be used for missiles and armed drones.

It is the eighth agreement signed by the United States and India since they embarked on a strategic partnership in 2005. Pakistani strategists believe that the agreement would increase Pakistan’s strategic dilemma, even though it is being presented as part of efforts to contain China.’

The Foreign Office it seems is very alarmed — “Pakistan has taken note of the signing of the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement. Pakistan has been consistently highlighting the threats posed to strategic stability in South Asia as a result of provision of advanced military hardware, technologies, and knowledge to India.”

At least Pakistan had the sense not to suggest that US geospatial intelligence was incompatible with India’s defense requirements!

The fact that Secretary Pompeo is proceeding to Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Indonesia after India is significant as the US is clearly working to get allies on board against the Chinese Dragon, especially the countries that have been singed by its fiery breath.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/no-free-lunch/pakistan-china-in-a-funk-by-indias-latest-deals-with-the-us/

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Pakistan Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons built by General Dynamics of the U.S. are on course for joint maneuvers with their Chinese counterparts.    © Reuters

KARACHI — China has signed a defense pact with Pakistan, its old ally, in response to a recent information-sharing pact between India and the U.S.

Gen. Wei Fenghe, China’s defense minister and state councilor, visited Islamabad last week for three days and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to enhance defense cooperation between the Pakistan Army and the People’s Liberation Army.

Unlike the U.S.-India defense arrangement, details of the China-Pakistan pact have not been made public. However, analysts believe it contains new commitments to intelligence-sharing that will help Pakistan track the movements of Indian forces across their tense shared border.

Pakistan made clear the importance of Wei’s visit to mutual defense arrangements by bestowing a prestigious national award on him, the Nishan-e-Imtiaz, which is given for outstanding service to the country.

The military diplomacy follows the signing at the end of October of the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial Cooperation by New Delhi and Washington, which gave India’s armed forces access to a wealth of data from U.S. military satellites.

Senator Anwaar ul Haq Kakar, a government ally, said the MOU “will counter the onslaught of India backed by the U.S. and it will give more confidence to Pakistan that in its hour of need Beijing will stand with Pakistan.” He said the understanding draws Pakistan further into China’s orbit as their economies and security interests become more intertwined.

It was also announced that the Pakistani and Chinese air forces will conduct a large joint exercise called Shaheen IX before the end of December. Its predecessor, Shaheen VIII, lasted a fortnight and involved some 50 warplanes, including fighter jets and early warning aircraft, which participated in battle simulations. Shaheen IX is expected to be bigger in all respects.

“The U.S.-India agreement will strengthen New Delhi’s military capacities to monitor Pakistan-based threats,” Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the Wilson Center, told Nikkei Asia. “The China-Pakistan agreement can be viewed as an effort to reduce some of the imbalance in strategic stability in the region prompted by the U.S.-India deal.”

China has recently stepped up defense cooperation arrangements with Pakistan in a robust security alliance that dates from the 1960s.   © Reuters

But that might not be enough to put India and Pakistan on an even footing. “America’s sophisticated, high-quality surveillance and intelligence-related technologies may be of greater quality than China’s,” said Kugelman.

China has backed Pakistan in defense matters since the 1960s, and the latest development is an extension of that alliance. “Without any doubt, China is signaling its support to Pakistan against India,” Jeremy Garlick, an assistant professor of international relations at the University of Economics in Prague, told Nikkei. “China has been committed to supporting Pakistan for decades, and it is indicating that its position is unchanged.”

During his visit, Wei expressed satisfaction with security provided to infrastructure projects in the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $50 billion component in China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Behind the scenes, the Chinese may not be so sanguine, however, since troop increases and other security measures have not prevented occasional raids.

“China will worry about the security issue so long as its projects and the Chinese personnel working on them continue to be attacked,” said Kugelman. “Still, security concerns will not prompt Beijing to scale back its investments in Pakistan.”

Source: https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/China-and-Pakistan-ink-military-MOU-to-counter-US-India-pact

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