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XINHUA-PAKISTAN SERVICE

Pakistan to be a stumbling block in containing ChinaBreaking

November 02, 2017

BEIJING, Nov. 2 (INP): Defence experts hoped that Pakistan will be a stumbling block in US-India’s alliance meant to contain China in this region. The US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson recently visited India, where he highly praised the host country and criticized China by the way. Tillerson said earlier that the US will form a 100-year-long alliance with India to contain China. On the other hand, the US accused Pakistan many times of ineffective attack of terrorist organizations and intends to unite with India to put pressure on Pakistan. According to an article written by the Chinese defence expert Zhang Zhaozong that published on China Military website, the US-India relation has entered a new stage and they will carry out comprehensive political, military and economic cooperation in the future. But since the two countries have different strategic goals for their bilateral relation, their alliance is just a tactical cooperation at best, and they may not be able to achieve objective of jointly containing China. After India and the US signed the civilian nuclear power agreement in 2008, their trade and defense relation has developed by leaps and bounds, and they are in a honeymoon in recent years. On August 12, Admiral Harry Harris, the then commander of US Pacific Fleet Command, announced that America was helping India to realize military modernization, and would give India the same military treatment as its ally Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK). At the end of September, the US Secretary of Defense Mattis visited India, where he said America attached importance to India's leadership in the Indian Ocean and sought to forge a "flexible regional structure" with it. On October 25, US Secretary of State Tillerson visited India. The two sides announced that they have developed their strategic partnership steadily and will expand it in South Asia and the Indian Ocean-Pacific Ocean region. It's not strange that the US and India have gotten close. They can make up for each other's strategic weakness and they have their own intentions and needs. Tightening the bilateral relation between the US and India is good for improving the former's interests in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region. In August this year, President Trump released the new policy on Afghanistan and South Asia, and asked India to play a more active role in Afghan affairs. On the other hand, the catalyst of the US-India "honeymoon" is China. Before his visit to India, Tillerson gave a speech at CSIS titled "Defining Our Relationship with India for the Next Century", in which he made clear that the strategic cooperation between America and India is aimed to contain China. In face of China's rise, the US attempts to form a four-country alliance with Japan, India and Australia in the Asia Pacific. In July this year, India, the US and Japan held the "Malabar-2017" joint maritime exercise at the Bay of Bengal, the largest of its kind ever, for which the US assigned a whole carrier strike group including the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. India always believes that it is under the shadow of China's rise, and border disputes break out between India and China from time to time, so having the US as its supporter is of great strategic significance for India. The Modi government strives to build India into a global power, an important sign of which is military strength. The "Donglang incident" made India realize its military inferiority to China, and it hopes to import advanced weapon systems from the US in order to make up for its military weakness. Obviously arming India to contain China is a good choice for the US and something India is happy to see at the moment. The US is already making preparations to sell more key weapons and equipment to India. It's even willing to provide nuclear aircraft carrier, electromagnetic catapult and F-35 carrier-based aircraft. Intention of containing China may not come through. INP/J/AH