In what will hopefully be his last foreign trip as Secretary State – with a Trump victory on Nov. 3 followed by his prompt replacement at State – Pompeo will be in India on Monday and Tuesday Oct. 26-27, followed by visits to Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Maldives. His goal: surrounding and attacking China. Pompeo himself has stated that his trip will “include discussions on how free nations can work together to thwart threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party.” For the India trip, Pompeo will be joined by his ubiquitous sidekick, Defense Secretary Mike Esper, for the annual two-by-two talks between India and the U.S. Agence France-Press reported that “officials said the two countries are expected to sign an agreement on sharing geospatial intelligence, paving the way for the United States to ship increasingly sophisticated missile technology.”
AFP also cited Aparna Pande, director of the Hudson Institute’s Initiative on the Future of India and South Asia, saying: as U.S. relations deteriorate with China, “which country would you want on your side — one which borders China, is antagonistic to China, has lost territory to China and has the potential to become a rival to China. That’s India.”
