Curated By: Shankhyaneel Sarkar
Last Updated: July 07, 2023, 15:59 IST
Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)
The US wants to work with India and build a naval logistics hub to counter China in the IOR and also in the SCS. (Image: Shutterstock)
The US wants to set up naval logistics hub to counter China in Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and South China Sea (SCS) and these hubs will resupply, repair and maintain ships and aircraft.
The US wants to set up naval logistics hubs in India which would work as centres for resupplying and maintenance of naval vessels in the South Asia region, Nikkei Asia said in a report.
Discussions related to this were held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden during his US state visit in June. Both leaders discussed these issues as part increasing comprehensive defence and economic partnerships between the two countries.
The Nikkei Asia report said that US will provide India with the support to develop the infrastructure to resupply, repair and maintain ships and aircraft.
The report said that India-US Defence Acceleration Ecosystem or INDUS-X was created on June 21 amid PM Modi’s state visit to the US.
The US Department of Defence said INDUS X would help vitalise “defence industrial cooperation between India and US”. The Department of Defence, according to the Nikkei Asia report, said the objective behind Indus-X is to make India “a logistics hub for US and other partners in the Indo-Pacific region”.
The US currently has naval hubs in Japan and Singapore. The US believes that if naval hubs are created in India it would help Washington gain “much-needed flexibility” in the vast Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
“Currently, we operate from Diego Garcia and Western Australia in the Indian Ocean. Securing a maintenance, repair, and logistics hub on the Subcontinent is significant as this would give us much-needed flexibility in the vast Indian Ocean region,” Harry Harris, Former commander of US Indo-Pacific Command was quoted as saying by Nikkei Asia.
The US fears it will fall behind in terms of naval superiority if it does not expand its operations. The Pentagon annual report on China says that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy has around 355 ships and submarines which makes it among the world’s largest.
The Biden administration also wants to extend the partnership with India beyond the Indian Ocean Region as well. The report also said that India and US want to strengthen collaboration with Indian in the South China Sea as well.
