US plans to advance defence ties with India to counter Chinese aggression

New Delhi, Oct 28: The United States, in its newly released "National Defense Strategy 2022" on Thursday, said that the Biden administration will advance defence partnership with India to enhance its ability to deter Chinese aggression and address grey zone coercion from China at India's land border.

The US said, "The Department will advance our Major Defense Partnership with India to enhance its ability to deter PRC (People Republic of China) aggression and ensure free and open access to the Indian Ocean region," reads the document.

The documents also said that the US will support grey zone coercion from China at "disputed land borders such as with India."

The US has focused majorly on China and Indo-pacific in the newly released strategy.

On Chinese threats in Indo-pacific, the US in National Defense Strategy 2022 said that China seeks to undermine US alliances and security partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region, and leverage its growing capabilities "to coerce its neighbors and threaten their interests".

The document said that the "most serious challenge to US" national security is China's coercive and aggressive endeavour to refashion the Indo-Pacific region and the international system to suit its interests and authoritarian preferences.

The US said that through coercive activity, China is destabilizing the stretches across the East China Sea, the South China Sea, and along the "Line of Actual Control".

The document of the US department of defence is an unclassified defence strategy which was released earlier this month.

The National Defense Strategy 2022 has a mandate from Congress.

The document states that China presents the most consequential and systemic challenge, while Russia poses acute threats to vital US national interests abroad and to the homeland.

The document includes the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) and the Missile Defence Review (MDR). The NPR is a legislatively-mandated review that describes US nuclear strategy, policy, posture, and forces.

The NPR reaffirms that the key role of US nukes is to deter nuclear attacks on the country and its partners.

The MDR is a review conducted pursuant to the President and the Secretary of Defence guidance, while also addressing the legislative requirement to assess US missile defence policy and strategy.

With input from ANI.