Secretary of State Tillerson just made a speech on Indo-US relations. Keeping in mind that he is, like all his ilk, a fluent liar, I read the speech and the Q&A that followed. I have put some of my thoughts in parentheses.
Some points:
1) India is to be used as a catspaw against China:
"This year’s Malabar Exercise was our most complex to date, the largest vessels from American, Indian and Japanese navies demonstrated ... "
"Thousands of Indian security personnel have trained with American counterparts to enhance their
capacity."
"China, while rising alongside India, has done so less responsibly, at times undermining the international rules-based order ... "
"China’s provocative actions in the South China Sea directly challenge the international law and norms that the United States and India both stand for ... we will not shrink from China’s challenges to the rules-based order and where China subverts the sovereignty of neighboring countries and disadvantages the U.S. and our friends."
"India and the United States must foster greater prosperity and security with the aim of a free and open Indo-Pacific."
"The proposals the United States has put forward, including for Guardian UAVs, aircraft carrier
technologies, the future vertical lift program, and F-18 and F-16 fighter aircraft, are all potential
gamechangers for our commercial and defense cooperation. "
2) China's financing of African and South Asian countries is to be countered:
"Earlier this year, instructors from the U.S. and Indian armies came together to build a U.N. peacekeeping capacity among African partners – a program that we hope to continue expanding."
" ... China, and the financing mechanisms it brings to many of these countries, which result in saddling them with enormous levels of debt."
[Dear Kettle, You are black. Pot]
" We think it’s important that we begin to develop some means of countering that with alternative financing measures, financing structures."
"We will not be able to compete with the kind of terms that China offers."
[So sad. This is admission that the USA/IMF/World Bank have lost the financial wars.]
Read all about it:
https://csis-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/event/171018_An_Address_by_U.S._Secretary_of_State_Rex_Tillerson.pdfOne bit he let slip was that he had (when still CEO of Exxon) facilitated the Indian ONGC purchase of part of the Sakhalin Project in Russia.
The USA is now in bed with a dangerous, religious, right wing government in India. And that government is losing support.
sidd