India ‘indispensable’ for free, open Indo-Pacific, says Colby

NEw new delhi: The US perceives republic of india as “indispensable” for maintaining a release and open up Indo-Pacific and an indispensable partner for a favourable balance of power in Asia, a senior Trump administration official said on Tuesday, while outlining a vision for the two sides to work together on convergent interests despite differences or even disputes on certain issues.Elbridge Colby, the US under secretary of defense for policy who is in the capital to co-chair a meeting of the Defence Policy Group, pointed to the alignment between New Delhi’s “Bharat First” approach and the Trump administration’s policy of “America First” and flexible realism, and highlighted a four-point agenda based on cooperation despite differences, the centrality of military power, defence industrial collaboration and “strategic candour”.Colby is the second senior Trump administration official to visit India this month, after US deputy secretary of state Christopher Landau, as the two sides work to rebuild ties that were hit by intense strains last year because of the US’s imposition of 50% tariffs on Indian exports, including a 25% penalty over Russian oil purchases. The two sides have agreed on the framework for a bilateral trade deal and Washington has slashed tariffs.While acknowledging that the world is passing through one of the most significant shifts in global power in generations and that any single country cannot sustain a stable balance of power in Asia, Colby said while delivering an address at the Ananta Centre that India’s role in maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific “is indispensable”.India’s importance stems from its size, economic potential and strategic position. “Your country sits astride the Indian Ocean, which is the connective tissue of the Indo-Pacific. India possesses a long tradition of strategic autonomy and a growing capacity to shape events well beyond its borders,” he said, pointing to India’s “formidable, self-reliant and capable military forces” able to shoulder significant security responsibilities.“For all of these reasons, the US sees India not merely as a key partner but as an essential one in ensuring a long-term, favourable balance of power in Asia. At the same time, we approach our partnership with realism, clarity and a fair dose of humility,” Colby said.Washington’s approach to the India-US partnership is “interest-based and realistic, shaped by geopolitics and incentives”, he pointed out.In this context, Colby acknowledged that India is “not shy about advancing” its own interests and priorities and said such divergences will not come in the way of the two sides working together since the US’s national security strategy envisages partnerships with “self-assured states, not with dependencies”.Referring to external affairs minister S Jaishankar’s description of India’s approach as “Bharat First” and “the India way”, Colby added: “Like America First and flexible realism, Bharat First and the India way emphasise the centrality of a realistic approach to foreign policy, an unabashed willingness to put one’s own national priorities first, and a results-oriented mindset about international politics.”Colby listed four central planks that could drive cooperation between the US and India, the first of which is that the two sides “do not need to agree on everything to cooperate effectively”. He added: “What matters most is that our interests and objectives increasingly converge on the most fundamental issues. Differences and even disputes are fully compatible with deepening alignment and cooperation on strategic matters.”Colby, who played a key role in shifting the US defense department’s focus on China during Trump’s first term, said the US and India both “benefit from an Indo-Pacific in which no power can dominate the region”, as well as open trade and national autonomy. “These are the concrete shared interests that form the foundation of our enduring strategic partnership,” he added.The second plank listed by Colby was the “strategic centrality of military power for a stable, favourable balance” in Asia. He cited the steady expansion of India-US defence cooperation, including greater coordination between the two militaries, more complex exercises and deepening information-sharing. “Regional and global cooperation has become routine and defence industrial and technology collaboration is taking on new momentum,” he said.The US-India Major Defence Partnership signed by US defense secretary Pete Hegseth and defence minister Rajnath Singh last October provides a strong basis for progress, and this momentum is expected to accelerate with the meeting of the Defence Policy Group on Wednesday that will be co-chaired by defence secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, he said.“Our focus must now be on advancing forward from these important agreements to serve a larger strategic purpose, strengthening the ability of both countries to contribute to a stable balance of power in this vital region,” Colby said. “Our goal should be practical, to ensure that our forces can operate effectively together when our interests do align, and in any case, to see that India possesses the capabilities necessary to defend its sovereignty and contribute to a favourable regional balance of power.”In this context, the US is committed to working with India to speed up cooperation in areas such as long-range precision weapon systems, resilient logistics, maritime domain awareness, anti-submarine warfare and advanced technologies, Colby said.The third plank is defence industrial cooperation, and India entering the top ranks of global economies provides a strong basis for mutually advantageous collaboration in this field. The two sides should leverage defence industrial, science and technology cooperation to enhance the readiness of their armed forces and to jointly develop defence capabilities, he said. Even as the US seeks to expand defence sales to India, it recognises New Delhi’s ambition to expand its indigenous defence industry as “entirely reasonable”.While such cooperation can build a more resilient network of defence production, Colby pointed to “regulatory barriers, bureaucratic inertia and differences in procurement systems” posing real challenges that should be overcome.The fourth plank listed by Colby was “strategic candour”, and he argued that strong partnerships can benefit from “honesty, respect and strategic clarity”, especially as the US and India “have not always been partners or even friendly”. The interests of the two sides will “at times diverge” but “disagreement need not pose any hindrance to our cooperation”.Colby noted that the US and India face the task of navigating a “period of tectonic shifts in a way that preserves our interests and peace”. The US, he contended, is prepared for such an era while the same cannot be said for some of the US’s traditional partners. “India is far different. It is a waxing power. As a result, the US believes that India will play a central role in ensuring a favourable balance of power in the Indo-Pacific,” he said.The US’s objective is to build a partnership with India to ensure peace and stability that is not based on “naïveté or gauzy abstractions like the rules-based international order, but in strength, reason and hard-nosed collaboration,” Colby said.