India and the US have signed a Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) that gives India access to a global geographical map of the United States and its borders. China’s biggest technology company Huawei is trying to woo India with big ads in leading newspapers in India. The signing of the BECA will probably allow India to use the US Global GeoSpatial Maps as a permanent weapon against China and other countries in the region.
BECA will also allow the US to give India access to a global map of the United States and its borders. India will know all about Pakistan and will be ahead of Pakistan’s military and security technology to improve its ability to fight the country. There is a huge gap between India and Pakistan in terms of military capabilities and US military technology. The BECA will give India access to a global geospatial map of the US that will help the Indian military launch precision missiles and drone strikes.
This will allow the US to share top-secret satellite and sensor data that would help India lock up targets for its missiles and deploy troops. Chinese military assets that India might have in its crosshairs during a conflict, and militarily, BECA promises a digitized map of China and its assets in the United States. This will help India acquire armed drones like the MQ-9B from the US, as well as access to a global geographic map of Pakistan’s military and security technology. Militarily, this will help the Indian military access the global geographic maps and data from China that it has promised to digitize and share with India.
The active role that India plays in its neighborhood should inspire US leaders to further strengthen defense cooperation with India. How can the United States continue to offer technology – breakthrough programs for India, if not for other nations?
Interestingly, India’s border dispute with China coincided with the signing of the recent Indo-American defense pact, which is seen as a major blow to the US-India alliance in the South China Sea. Analysts say India will lose its strategic value to the US if a 1962 border dispute occurs. The other concern is that the US will not support India if China fully invades India, as it did in 1961 and 1962. If China defeats India again, it could trigger a military conflict between India and the United States.
Nonetheless, US defense cooperation with India directly improves India’s ability to manage such confrontations, and this will only increase in the future. The Indian government is also working to build a network of partnerships because recognizing this fact can not only help India to balance China but also to build capacity.
India and the US look forward to the upcoming trilateral meeting of the United States – India – United States – Japan in New Delhi. Both sides welcome the opportunity for Australia to join the upcoming trilateral meetings between India, the US, and Japan, “Singh said.
Strategic observers say that signing the BECA will allow the US to share sensitive satellite and sensor data that would help India strike military targets with its missiles with pinpoint accuracy. The United States would also send the Indian Ocean region to monitor India’s border with Pakistan and its border areas with Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pakistan experts believe that the BECA would provide “American overlapping” and allow India and the United States to “share information about Pakistan’s ballistic missiles, nuclear weapons, and missile systems.”
While the United States has instead considered its existing role in pulling South Asian nations out of China’s orbit and defending the territory of smaller nations like Bhutan, India has stepped up its military presence in the South China Sea. It has also given leeway to Tibetan resistance movements in India and eased restrictions on the use of military force against them that did not exist before.
Hu said India considers the Indian Ocean and South Asia as its own backyard, and the US will not just watch India become the leader of South India and do nothing. The US stands with India in dealing with this threat, “Pompeo said, referring to China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and the Spratly Islands. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement that India would not allow anyone to grab an inch of land has been copied around the world and is clearly misleading the country.
This provides an opportunity for the United States to broaden the lens in its view of the emerging defense relationship. Washington must assess India’s involvement differently, the report said, looking beyond the periphery of its and its allies and taking into account China’s growing role in the South China Sea and the Spratly Islands.
In the east of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, the so-called “Actual Line of Control” stretches from the Ladakh region in the west to Bhutan’s border with China and the Indian state of Sikkim in the east. Satellite imagery and analysis have shown how India is the second-largest exporter of military equipment after the United States, and how it is exposed to threats from China, such as that which flared up during the recent military conflict between India and Bhutan over the Line of Control.
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