As India and China are still loggerheads over the border dispute, the US appears to be propping up the Indian side and castigating Beijing over various issues. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has prompted India to focus on domestic supply chains and diminish its reliance on China for telecommunications and medical supplies.
India had a chance to move “supply chains away from China and reduce its dependence on Chinese organisations in areas like telecommunications, medical supplies and others”, Pompeo said at the US-India Business Council’s India Ideas Summit which is being conducted online.
“India is in this position because it has earned the trust of many nations around the world, including the United States,” Pompeo said.
Washington has consistently criticised China for the COVID-19 pandemic and blamed Chinese organizations like Huawei Technologies Co Ltd of cyberspying and promoting human rights violations in China.
India’s ties with China have strained following a border clash in Galwan Valley in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed with an unconfirmed number of Chinese PLA casualties.
Pompeo blamed the Chinese of initiating the conflict, also denied by Beijing. “The recent clashes initiated by the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) are just the latest examples of the CCP’s (Chinese Communist Party) unacceptable behaviour,” Pompeo said.
India, which recently banned dozens of Chinese apps after the border clash has not yet made a call on Huawei after allowing the Chinese telecoms firm to participate in trials for 5G networks. India is the world’s main generic drug supplier, and its reliance on Chinese raw materials is almost 70 per cent.
“The United States has never been more supportive of India’s security. India, too, is an important partner and a key pillar of President [Donald] Trump’s foreign policy,” Pompeo said.
Earlier, as EurAsian Times reported, Huawei could be banned from competing in India’s 5G network rollout, just a few months after it was given the green light to participate in the country’s trials for the technology.
As part of those discussions, Indian government ministers discussed the country’s 5G rollout plans and whether Chinese telecommunications equipment giants Huawei and ZTE should be allowed to participate, according to a report from the Times of India.
