India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and his US counterpart Jake Sullivan on Wednesday held delegation level talks -- ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the US next week -- devoting considerable focus on the role of China in Asia and the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), reports Economic Times, a news outlet of India.
It has been learnt that China’s expanding footprints across Asia with specific focus on its long-term designs in the IOR received considerable focus in the talks here held a day after the second edition of iCET dialogue aimed at advancing critical technology cooperation, the report added.
The ET report further said other regional issues in India’s neighbourhood were also on the agenda of the talks. Two of India’s neighbours – Maldives and Bangladesh will go to polls later this year and early next year respectively. India is of the opinion that no initiatives should be launched in its neighbourhood that impacts its national interests adversely.
China has been expanding its presence in Myanmar besides Pakistan through economic corridors that would enable Beijing to project power across the Indian Ocean Region in the years to come, according to sources here.
US Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell was accompanying Sullivan. The US on its part is worried with China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea region and its influence across the Pacific region.
China has all plans to project dominance in Indian Ocean and has been making efforts to cultivate the Himalayan States besides Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the Economic Times report added.