America wants to build the Indo-Pacific region as a free and open trade zone. (But) China, too, is constantly trying to increase its influence in this region. So, the Donald Trump Administration has decided to strengthen ties with India as it becomes increasingly difficult for the US to counter the Asian giant single-handedly.
A couple of days ago, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that Washington elevated its engagement with New Delhi as part of its effort of a ‘free and open’ Indo-Pacific region. He explained that America, for long, has been favouring a larger role for the South Asian nation in this particular region mainly to pursue common interests in the strategically important area.

Rex Tillerson

America has also maintained cordial ties with Japan and Australia in this region. Commenting on the importance of India, Japan and Australia in US foreign policy, Tillerson said: “We’ve long had a trilateral relationship in the Indo-Pacific between Japan, Australia and the US, and we’re now working towards whether this will become a quad relationship to include India because of the importance of India’s rising economy as well and I think shared national security concerns that we have with India.”
Tension between the US and China exists in the South China Sea. Beijing claims that it’s the Chinese territory. However, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan are not ready to accept China’s demand, as they have counter claims over the waterway. The Asian giant has not only deployed naval forces in this important trade route, but also built artificial islands.
“As we’ve said to the Chinese, we hope we can find a way to freeze this particular activity. Whether we can reverse, it remains to seen. But it is not acceptable to us that these islands continue to be developed, and certainly not for military purposes,” stressed Tillerson.

Commenting on the China-US relationship, the state secretary said that Washington was ready to resolve the complex issues through peaceful negotiation. However, he backed India’s stand on China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ (OBOR) initiative, saying: “In South-east Asia, we put forth a policy here not too long ago of a free and open Indo-Pacific, and this was built on the back of some of our views about China’s OBOR policy. China’s OBOR, we understand, is a policy they have to continue their economic development, and our policies do not seek to contain China’s economic development. But China’s economic development, in our view, should take place in the system of international rules and norms, and OBOR seems to want to define its own rules and norms.”

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das