Washington : With the aim to adapt its role for the 21st century, the Biden Administration has announced the new Indo-Pacific strategy which supports India’s “continued rise and regional leadership” in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region.
On Friday afternoon, the White House released a 12-page fact sheet stating that they will focus on every corner of the region from South Asia to the Pacific Islands to strengthen its long-term position and commitment, including an emphasis on supporting and partnering with India.
“We will continue to build a strategic partnership in which the United States and India work together and through regional groupings to promote stability in South Asia; collaborate in new domains, such as health, space, and cyberspace; deepen our economic and technology cooperation; and contribute to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the strategy document read.
“We recognize that India is a like-minded partner and leader in South Asia and the Indian Ocean, active in and connected to Southeast Asia, a driving force of the Quad and other regional fora, and an engine for regional growth and development,” it added.
The policy document states its Indo-Pacific strategy, which cites the “mounting challenges” posed by the rise of China as a key driver of the “intensifying American focus” on the Indo-Pacific.
On Quad, the document says the US intends to strengthen it as a premier regional grouping and ensure it delivers on issues that matter to the Indo-Pacific.
“The Quad will play a leading regional role on COVID-19 response and global health security, delivering on its investment to provide an additional one billion vaccines to the region and to the world,” it says.
While slamming China, the policy document said the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is combining its economic, diplomatic, military, and technological might as it pursues a sphere of influence in the Indo-Pacific and seeks to become the world’s most influential power.
“Our collective efforts over the next decade will determine whether the PRC succeeds in transforming the rules and norms that have benefitted the Indo-Pacific and the world,” the document stated.
Citing China’s border disputes with India, the strategy document notes that US partners like India “bear much of the cost of the PRC’s harmful behavior.”