A day before he meets US President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is slated to have his first meeting with US secretary for defence Robert Gates Monday evening as both sides will look to discuss ways to further improve defence cooperation besides exchanging views on China and US involvement in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In a visit that is increasingly being looked from the prism of Obama?s recent trip to China, New Delhi will hope to get an understanding from the US side on its ?new approach? towards Beijing. It is learnt that the American military establishment has been making discomforting noises about China?s growing assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region that sits oddly with accommodative gestures from White House.
Gates, who is among the few to have been retained by Obama from the Bush Administration, has been pushing for stronger defence cooperation with India. In fact, this is one area where cooperation has grown at a healthy pace with both sides expanding scope regularly. An important part of Gates?s brief will be to push for more US military sales to India, particularly on multi-role combat aircraft deal, but India would be looking to get a sense from him on how Pentagon views China?s rise and its military assertiveness.
According to information with India, the Indian Ocean came up for specific mention from China as an area of concern during Obama?s visit along with Taiwan and Tibet. Sources said this has implications for New Delhi because India along with the US and countries like Japan and Australia have been working out defence agreements to ensure dominance over the Indian Ocean.
On the other hand, there is strong evidence of China investing heavily on its naval capabilities. While the earlier regime in Japan was quite open about its concerns on this front, the new government there has been making more accommodating gestures. This change has again made it difficult for Washington to exert its influence on Beijing?s long-term plans.
But given the healthy state of India-US defence ties and Gates?s personal involvement in the effort since the Bush administration, his calling on the PM is expected to result in some acceleration in cooperation despite the tentativeness in the Obama administration on dealing with China and a general cautiousness in approach.
With Obama still intent on a surge in Afghanistan, Gates is expected to give an overview of their long-term efforts in the AfPak region. But bogged down by domestic considerations, there is a lack of clarity on the number of troops the US is willing to commit and, in fact, Washington is pushing harder on its Nato allies to provide more forces.
While CIA head Leon Panetta conveyed to national security adviser MK Narayanan that the US has no plans to exit the area in the near future, Gates is likely to provide a clearer political perspective on the issue. In this connection, India will be looking for the latest assessment on security of Pakistan?s nuclear weapons facilities and the overall situation there.