Indo-US meet to set tone for post-Galwan Valley interaction

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 24

The first high-level Indo-US interaction, involving Cabinet Ministers and industry captains, to be held virtually later this week will set the framework for bilateral cooperation in the post-Galwan Valley environment.

The deliberations, expected later next month, would feed into a joint meeting of the Foreign and Defence Ministers of both countries, said sources.

US Vice President Mike Pence, Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goel besides the captains of industry, including from the US Defence Industry, will address a week-long virtual conference on a raft of subjects in the economic and strategic spheres at the third summit of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum.

The interaction is expected to see firm statements of intent from the newly-created US International Development Finance Corporation about countering China’s communication and infrastructure building spree in the Asia Pacific.

India has gone along with the US-Japan-Australia troika’s formulations on the security side in the South China Sea but is keen to give a push to the economic leg.

The latter aspect is also being deliberated in the run-up to a virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, said sources.

The possibility of Abe stepping down on health grounds is unlikely to make a difference to the dynamics of Indo-Japan ties which enjoy all-round support in Tokyo.

The Indo-US two-plus-two talks will follow the India-Japan summit and will be co-chaired from the Indian side by Jaishankar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Defence Secretary Mark Esper.

The US and Australia recently held a similar two-plus-two meeting in Washington that saw Canberra pushing back at some of the US aggression on the South China Sea. However, there is alignment on the fundamentals of stalling China’s attempt to dominate the South China Sea and become a world leader in 5G technology.