A few weeks ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to Washington on June 22, the U.S. House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party issued a statement calling for India to be invited to join “NATO Plus” – which includes all NATO members plus five other nations (Australia, Japan, Israel, New Zealand, and South Korea). It is led by Chairman Mike Gallagher and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi.
“Including India in NATO Plus security arrangements would build upon the US and India’s close partnership to strengthen global security and deter the aggression of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) across the Indo-Pacific region,” the committee explained. Bringing India on board would facilitate “seamless intelligence sharing between these countries and India would access the latest military technology without much of a time lag,” they explained.
The only problem with the idea is that it appears that India will have none of it – its well-known tensions with China notwithstanding. While addressing a press conference in New Delhi, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said the military alliance is “not suitable for India” and that they have no intention of joining NATO Plus. “The NATO template doesn’t apply to India.”
Enter National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who was sent to Delhi on June 13 for two days of meetings to try to entice Modi with offers of economic deals. RT’s Asia Editor Joydeep Sen Gupta wrote that Sullivan “held talks with Modi, his Indian counterpart, Ajit Doval, and minister for external affairs, Dr Subramanyam Jaishankar,” and “unveiled an ambitious roadmap for Indo-US collaboration in seven specific hi-technology areas, including semiconductors, next-generation telecommunications, artificial intelligence and defense.”
Sullivan specifically discussed “opening a $2.7 billion semiconductor chip-making facility in India by Micron Technology, which is headquartered in Boise, Idaho and sharing technical know-how regarding quantum computing technology. India imports about 80% of its semiconductors… The pièce de resistance is Sullivan’s last-ditch bid to jointly manufacture US aircraft engines for Indian defense forces by General Electric (GE) in partnership with state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).”
