US, India partnership targets weapons and AI to compete with China
The White House is launching a partnership with India on Tuesday that US President Joe Biden hopes will help the countries compete against China on military equipment, artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors.
United States wants to deploy more Western mobile phone networks in the subcontinent to counter China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, to welcome more Indian computer chip specialists to the US and to encourage companies from both nations to collaborate on military equipment like artillery systems.
Yet the Washington faces an uphill battle on each front, including US restrictions on military technology transfer and visas for immigrant workers, along with India's longstanding dependence on Russia for military hardware, issues it hopes to now address.
US President Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval, are meeting with senior officials from both countries at the White House on Tuesday to launch the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies.
New Delhi has frustrated Washington by participating in military exercises with Moscow and increasing purchases of the country's crude oil, a key source of funding for Russia's war in Ukraine. But US has held its tongue, nudging the country on Russia while condoning India's more hawkish stance on China.
While India is part of the Biden administration's signature Asian engagement project Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) on supply chains, clean energy and anti-corruption, it has opted against joining the IPEF trade pillar negotiations.
The new initiative also includes a joint effort on space and high-performance quantum computing.
General Electric, meanwhile, is asking the United States government for permission to produce jet engines with India that would power aircraft operated and produced by India, according to the White House, which says a review is underway.
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