India will not be a willing pawn of US: China Daily editorial
China DailyIndia's Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Narendra Modi gestures to the gathering as he arrives to take the oath of office for his third term as prime minister during the oath-taking ceremony at presidential palace Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on June 9, 2024. Given it is the US administration's consistent policy to push India to act as a "counterbalance" to China in the region, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's win in India's general election, which guarantees him a record third straight term, offers a good chance for Washington and its allies to strengthen their anti-China alliance in the strategic "Indo-Pacific" region. In a call, the two leaders emphasized "deepening the US-India comprehensive and global strategic partnership" and "advancing their shared vision of a free, open and prosperous Indo-Pacific region", the White House said. Indeed, having formed the Quad security dialogue that also includes Japan and Australia, the US and India have in recent years bolstered their defense and security partnership through information sharing and technology transfer, with the two countries regularly participating in joint military exercises obviously messaging China. The 2020 China-India standoff along their disputed border seems to have pushed India-US military collaboration to a new high, with the two sides agreeing in 2023 to jointly develop and produce defense equipment to "strengthen the shared security" of the two countries.