China poses a systemic challenge to India-US vision of open Indo-Pacific: US diplomat

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting India weeks after he cancelled his visit to China over the balloon incident. Both Russia and China are expected to figure during his bilateral talks with India.

The US said that there are countries such as China that pose a "systemic challenge" to the vision that it shares with India of a "free and open Indo-Pacific" and this will be figured in the talks during US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to India on March 1.

Blinken would attend the crucial foreign ministers' meeting of the G20 group and that of Quad in addition to participation in the Raisina Dialogue followed by bilateral talks with his Indian counterpart External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar.

"We share a vision with India of a free and open Indo-Pacific, and India is a key partner of ours bilaterally, in the context of the Quad as well other international groupings, even as we've attempted to stitch together some of the partnerships in which India has been a key player. We've spoken quite a bit recently of I2U2, a new partnership that involves India. It involves the UAE, it involves the United States as well. So, there are a number of elements on the agenda, and you'll have an opportunity to hear from the Secretary as he travels there," US Department of State spokesperson Ned Price said on Monday.

Blinken is visiting India weeks after he cancelled his visit to China due to the balloon incident. During his bilateral meetings with India, both Russia and China are expected to figure in talks.

"You've heard very firmly from Prime Minister Modi the belief on the part of the Indian government that this is not an era of war. There are countries around the world, notably Russia, that are challenging the rules-based order, the principles of the UN Charter, the principles of international law, the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We'll continue to discuss these issues with our Indian partners. I have no doubt that they'll be on the agenda for and around the G20," he said.

India and the US share a number of important interests, and a number of important values, he added. "But principally we share a vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region. There are countries in the region, namely the PRC (People's Republic of China), that have posed a consistent and in some ways even a systemic challenge to the vision that we share with India of a free and open Indo-Pacific. Without going into the specifics, those issues will certainly be on the agenda at the G20 but also in the bilateral context," Price concluded.