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       US Defense Chief Visits India Amid New High in Bilateral Relations

   by Carla Babb

   [1]U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has arrived in India during a
   wave of increased cooperation with India's military.

   "We are doing things now with the Indians that could not have been
   imagined 10 or so years ago," a senior defense official said.

   Carter will look to improve defense technology and trade cooperation
   while increasing military-to-military cooperation through additional
   bilateral and trilateral coordinated operations.

   "While these negotiations can be difficult and global competition is
   high, I have no doubt that in the coming years, the United States and
   India will embark on a landmark co-production agreement that will bring
   our two countries closer together and make our militaries stronger,"
   Carter said at a Council on Foreign Relations event Friday ahead of his
   departure.

   ''Technology coordination between the two countries is focused on
   aircraft carrier design and the co-production of jet fighter aircraft,
   according to a senior defense official.

   Undersecretary of Defense Frank Kendall visited New Delhi ahead of the
   secretary's trip to discuss these projects.

   The Indians "have an indigenous capability there," James Clad, a former
   deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asia and a senior advisor for
   the Center for Naval Analysis, told VOA. "They want to be in the rank
   of people with military capability that is kind of first world."

   Asia pivot

   The visit aims to demonstrate the priority that the defense department
   has placed on the Asia-Pacific region.

   Carter has touted the U.S.-India relationship as a "strategic
   handshake," one that is "destined" to be among the most significant
   partnerships of the 21st century.

   "As the United States is reaching west in its rebalance, India is
   reaching east in Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi's 'Act East' policy
   that will bring it farther into the Indian and Pacific Oceans," Carter
   said.

   Clad told VOA the pivot has been a good way to formally display the
   "inside-our-government attitude" that gives Asia the priority many felt
   it deserved.

   ''"Because we need to be enabled to focus unrelentingly on what is I
   think the single comprehensive challenge," Clad said, "which is the way
   the Chinese are coming at us."

   Carter has said the Asia pivot, however, is not aimed at any particular
   country and "excludes no one." The secretary has accepted an invitation
   to visit China that is expected to take place later this year.

   His India visit will likely ruffle feathers in (bother) neighboring
   China - whose aggression has caused concern in the Himalayas and the
   South China Sea - as well as in Pakistan, India's rival.

   Strengthening ties

   Clad believes strengthening ties with Pakistan's rival is a sensible
   move and "doesn't care" if it bothers the Chinese or the Pakistanis.

   "Pakistan has been an intervening drain on our resources," Clad told
   VOA. "It's a country that's not really our friend. It's a country
   that's played a double and a triple game, vis-a-vis the Afghan war and
   all the rest of it."

   Goa, Carter's first stop, is the home state of Indian Defense Minister
   Manohar Parrikar. Senior defense officials say the visit to Goa
   underlies the "close, personal relationship" that Carter and Parrikar
   have developed.

   Parrikar will show Carter several major attractions in his hometown
   during the visit, including St. Francis Basilica. The area is known for
   its sprawling coastlines and well-preserved 16th-century churches.

   Carter will then head to New Delhi for talks with Prime Minister Modi
   and other senior officials.
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   [2]http://www.voanews.com/content/carter-visits-india-amid-new-high-in-
   bilateral-relations/3278304.html

References

   1. http://www.defense.gov/News-Article-View/Article/716438/pentagon-announces-carter-trip-to-asia-pacific-middle-east
   2. http://www.voanews.com/content/carter-visits-india-amid-new-high-in-bilateral-relations/3278304.html