Washington: Ahead of the upcoming India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, US Assistant Secretary for Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu said that Washington would be interested to know about the discussions between New Delhi and Beijing regarding the border standoff.
The remarks were made in response to whether China will be a topic of discussion during the Ministerial dialogue.
Addressing a special briefing, Donald Lu said, “Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific in terms of our efforts to support a free, open, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific is very much formally on the agenda. I think we will be interested to hear how India’s discussions with China are going related to border issues”.
“I am sure our Indian counterparts will be very interested to hear about Wang Yi’s visit to the United States and the announced meeting between President Biden and President Xi at the APEC Summit,” he added.
The US official further said that the India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue is a “key part” of State Secretary Antony Blinken’s upcoming visit and the major focus of the discussions would be towards keeping the Indo-Pacific “free, open, prosperous, and secure”.
“In recent years, a key part of the 2+2 Dialogue has also been defense co-production with India. Our intention is to encourage more collaboration to produce world-class defense equipment to meet Indian defense needs and contribute to greater global security,” he said.
On being asked about the India-Canada diplomatic standoff, the US Official said that Washington is hopeful that the investigation will proceed and the perpetrators will be brought to justice.
“We have publicly and privately urged the Indian Government to cooperate with Canada on the investigation into the allegations made by Prime Minister Trudeau. I know that we have been in constant contact with our Canadian partners, and we are hopeful that Canada’s investigation will proceed, and the perpetrators will be brought to justice,” Lu further added.
Notably, Antony Blinken will embark on a visit to six nations namely; Israel, Jordan, Japan, South Korea and lastly, India.
Blinken will participate in the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue along with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in New Delhi.
The delegation will meet with Minister for External Affairs S Jaishankar, Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh, and other senior Indian officials to discuss both bilateral and global concerns and developments in the Indo-Pacific.
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