Continued U.S.-India Cooperation Under Biden Administration Remains An Open Question, Experts Say
By: John Grady
January 6, 2021 5:24 PM
The question of whether the “accelerated rise†in military cooperation with India – from exercises like Malabar to sharing sensitive satellite targeting intelligence – will continue under the Biden administration remains open, two experts in Indian strategy said Wednesday.
Retired Vice Adm. Shekhar Sinha, who served in senior naval positions as the relationship grew from the first Malabar exercise in 1993, asked rhetorically if the cooperation will “slow down because [the Biden administration] wants to slow down the push back on China.†He praised the Trump administration for these moves to increase security cooperation but noted American security policy “changes every four years†with presidential elections.
During a late October ceremony in New Delhi when the two nations signed the satellite intelligence-sharing agreement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said “big things are happening as our democracies align to better protect the citizens of our two countries and indeed, of the free world.†In addition to the four military trade agreements negotiated over the last 18-plus years, there have been 14 American-Indian military exercises in the last five years.
https://news.usni.org/2021/01/06/continued-u-s-india-cooperation-under-biden-administration-remains-an-open-question-experts-say