As the Americans would say, they are ‘sizing up’ Narendra Modi and his Cabinet members. That is the impression that the US secretary of defence, Charles (Chuck) Hagel, gave in a talk on the occasion of 25th anniversary of the Observer Research Foundation, promoted by the Ambanis.
He told the assembly of Delhi’s elite that the discussions on the Defence Framework Agreement will be held when defence minister Arun Jaitley visits Washington to attend the International Monetary Fund meeting and also has bilateral discussions at the Pentagon, the headquarters of the US defence department.
Hagel, who had been a former senator, had also supported the civilian nuclear agreement that the UPA government of Manmohan Singh had concluded, he said.
Hagel in his speech on ‘Achieving the Potential of the US-India Strategic Partnership,’ proved to be a raconteur of the conflict ridden parts of Asia. In that southern Asia, with Afghanistan, he expressed the intention of deepening the dialogue with India.
He made it clear that relationship with China is not a ‘zero sum’ game. Hagel said that the US can have a relationship about the Pacific with India, and also separately with China. India too could have a similar relationship with Beijing. Hagel said ‘India does not need to choose in terms of China.’
This was balanced by his argument about the trilateral engagement between the US, Japan and India. The ministerial dialogues between the three countries need to be ‘sustained and strengthened’.
Hagel, returning to Afghanistan, assured the audience that the, ‘The US is not abandoning Afghanistan.’ He still did not go into specificities of any of the issues he addressed.
The only issue he went into some specifics about how India and the US corporate would go into the ‘co-produce’ and ‘co-develop’ of anti-tank munitions called the Javeline. He said Defence Technology and Trade Initiative between the US and India addresses the ‘strategic imperatives on the table.’
He told the assembly of Delhi’s elite that the discussions on the Defence Framework Agreement will be held when defence minister Arun Jaitley visits Washington to attend the International Monetary Fund meeting and also has bilateral discussions at the Pentagon, the headquarters of the US defence department.
Hagel, who had been a former senator, had also supported the civilian nuclear agreement that the UPA government of Manmohan Singh had concluded, he said.
Hagel in his speech on ‘Achieving the Potential of the US-India Strategic Partnership,’ proved to be a raconteur of the conflict ridden parts of Asia. In that southern Asia, with Afghanistan, he expressed the intention of deepening the dialogue with India.
He made it clear that relationship with China is not a ‘zero sum’ game. Hagel said that the US can have a relationship about the Pacific with India, and also separately with China. India too could have a similar relationship with Beijing. Hagel said ‘India does not need to choose in terms of China.’
This was balanced by his argument about the trilateral engagement between the US, Japan and India. The ministerial dialogues between the three countries need to be ‘sustained and strengthened’.
Hagel, returning to Afghanistan, assured the audience that the, ‘The US is not abandoning Afghanistan.’ He still did not go into specificities of any of the issues he addressed.
The only issue he went into some specifics about how India and the US corporate would go into the ‘co-produce’ and ‘co-develop’ of anti-tank munitions called the Javeline. He said Defence Technology and Trade Initiative between the US and India addresses the ‘strategic imperatives on the table.’