U.S., India partnership targets arms and AI to compete with China

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House will launch a partnership with India on Tuesday. President Joe Biden hopes it will help India compete with China in military equipment, semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI).

Washington deploys more Western cell phone networks in the subcontinent to compete with China’s Huawei Technologies (HWT.UL), welcomes more Indian computer chip experts to the United States, and helps companies from both countries would like to encourage them to cooperate on military equipment such as artillery. system.

But the White House faces uphill battles on each front, including U.S. restrictions on the transfer of military technology, visas for migrant workers, and India’s longstanding reliance on Moscow for military hardware, which it is now addressing. That’s the question I want to ask.

Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and his Indian counterpart Ajit Dval met with senior officials from both countries at the White House on Tuesday to launch the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies. .

“The bigger challenges posed by China are its economic practices, its aggressive military actions, its efforts to control its future industries and its future supply chains,” Sullivan said. I have given,” he said.

“This is another big and fundamental part of the overall strategy to put the entire Indo-Pacific democratic world in a strong position…This is a strategic bet by the two leaders. …the United States and India serve strategic, economic and technological interests.”

New Delhi has irritated Washington by participating in military exercises with Russia and increasing purchases of the country’s oil, a key source of funding for Russia’s war in Ukraine. But Washington keeps its mouth shut, baiting the state against Russia and condoning India’s more hawkish stance on China.

On Monday, Sullivan and Dorval attended a Chamber of Commerce event, along with corporate leaders from Lockheed Martin, (LMT.N) Adani Enterprise (ADEL.NS) and Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT.O)

India is part of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), the Biden administration’s flagship Asian engagement project on supply chains, clean energy and anti-corruption, but will not participate in IPEF trade pillar negotiations. selected.

New initiatives also include joint efforts on space and high-performance quantum computing.

General Electric Company (GE.N)Meanwhile, the White House said it has asked the U.S. government for permission to produce jet engines in India to power Indian-operated and built aircraft, and said a review is underway.

Reported by Trevor Honeycutt. Edited by Chris Sanders, Josie Kao and Himani Sarkar

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