Washington: China continues to harden its position along the borders with India, US defence secretary Lloyd James Austin said, while underlining that Washington will stand by its friends in upholding their rights in the face of Beijing’s “war coercive” and “aggressive approach” in the Indo-Pacific.
China must desist from its aggressive and illegal approaches to push its territorial claims, Austin said at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. While noting China is “pushing limits” in the East China Sea and South China Sea, he said: “Further to the west, we're seeing Beijing continue to harden its position along the border that it shares with India.”
Stressing that US partnerships with treaty allies and Asean countries as well as through mechanisms like the Quad have grown and matured in the Indo-Pacific, which is at “the heart of American grand strategy”, Austin said, “We believe India's growing military capability and technological prowess can be a stabilising force in the region.”
Austin’s statement about China hardening its posture with India is the second such observation by a top US official this week amidst the continuing military confrontation in eastern Ladakh, which is into its third year now with over 50,000 soldiers each forward deployed with heavy weapons along the frontier.
In New Delhi, the US army's Pacific Commanding General Charles A Flynn had described China’s rapid build-up of military infrastructure along the Line of Actual Control as “alarming” and the activity levels of its People’s Liberation Army as “eyeopening” in the region.
