US moving Europe troops to counter Chinese threats to India

New Delhi, June 26: US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo said that China's threats to India and Southeast Asia were the main reasons to draw down troops in Germany.

He told the Brussels forum that this was a well thought out strategy because they were being moved to other places. US President Donald Trump had recently announced that the US would be reducing troops in Germany, a decision that angered the EU countries.

The actions of the Chinese Communist Party, meant that there were threats to India and countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and the South China Sea, Pompeo said. We are going make sure we are postured appropriately to counter the PLA. We think that this is the challenge of our time and we are going to make sure we have resources in place to do that, Pompeo said.

He also spoke about the bloody border confrontation with India. Beijing's activities in the South China Sea and its predatory economic policies were also raised by Pompeo. He announced that the US and EU would start a dialogue on China and the challenges it poses. It would help the trans-Atlantic alliance to build a common understanding of the threat posed by China.

The two sides needed a collective data set on China's actions so the two could take action together. Europe is often accused of being naive about China, taking a much more benevolent attitude to China's designs, he said.