Antony Blinken, an old friend of India who has been nominated as the Secretary of State of United States, on November 24, 2020, said that India should be made a key partner in combating China.
“We have a common challenge which is to deal with an increasingly assertive China across the board, including its aggression toward India at the Line of Actual Control,” Blinken said.
Blinken is expected to become the new Secretary of State of United States. His statement comes at a time when India and China are locked in border tension along across the Line of Actual Control.
Answering a question asked by Richard Verma, the close aide of US President-elect Joe Biden, Blinken said that the President would work closely with India to renew democratic relations. Blinken recognizes India as a close partner and promised that the Biden administration would work closely with New Delhi.
“During the Obama-Biden administration, we worked very hard to establish India as a key contributing member of the Indo-Pacific strategy. And that includes India’s role in working with like minded partners to strengthen and uphold a rules-based order in the Indo Pacific, in which no country, including China, can threaten its neighbours with impunity,” he said.
“That role needs to extend even beyond the region as vast as it is to the world at large. In a Biden administration, we would be an advocate for India to play a leading role in international institutions and that includes helping India get a seat on a reformed United Nations Security Council. We would work together to strengthen India’s defence, and also add its capabilities as a counterterrorism partner,” he added.
