U.S. Security Strategy hails New Delhi’s emergence as a ‘Leading Global Power’

President Donald Trump’s new national security strategy, announced on Monday, promised support for India’s emergence as a “leading global power,” while identifying China, Russia and Islamism as main threats.

“We welcome India’s emergence as a leading global power and stronger strategic and defence partner,” the U.S. strategy document said. Enhancing India’s global standing from being a ‘balancing power’ to be a ‘leading power’ has been a stated strategic objective of the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.


More Cooperation

“We will seek to increase quadrilateral cooperation with Japan, Australia, and India... We will expand our defence and security cooperation with India, a major defence partner of the United States, and support India’s growing relationships throughout the region,” said the strategy document, finalised after months of internal deliberations.

India finds a mention as a partner in Mr. Trump’s plans for South and Central Asia and Indo-Pacific, while China is named as a threat in both sections. The document said America “will help South Asian nations maintain their sovereignty as China increases its influence in the region.” Many countries in the Indo-Pacific were looking to the U.S. for leadership even as “Chinese dominance risks diminishing the sovereignty of many states in the region,” it noted.

China and Russia, it says, “are determined to make economies less free and less fair, to grow their militaries and to control information and data to repress their societies and expand their influence.”

The document reiterates a series of announcements and speeches by the President and other senior officials in the last one year in the context of India.

“We will deepen our strategic partnership with India and support its leadership role in Indian Ocean security and throughout the broader region,” it said.

The document also underscores the warning to Pakistan. “We will press Pakistan to intensify its counter-terrorism efforts, since no partnership can survive a country’s support for militants and terrorists who target a partner’s own service members and officials,” it said.