Bill introduced to strengthen US-India partnership and counter China's influence in Indo-Pacific

NEW DELHI: US senator Marco Rubio introduced a bill in American Congress on Friday that aims to strengthen the US-India partnership and counter the growing influence of China in the Indo-Pacific region.
"In order to strengthen our partnership with India, it’s essential we increase our strategic relationship with New Delhi. Introduced a bill to best support India as they continue to face aggression from Communist China," Marco Rubio said on X (formerly Twitter).

The bill proposes to treat India on par with US allies such as Japan, Israel, South Korea, and Nato allies in terms of technology transfers and support India's response to increasing threats to its territorial integrity. It also seeks to bar Pakistan from receiving security assistance if it is found to have sponsored terrorism against India.
"Communist China continues to aggressively expand its domain in the Indo-Pacific region, all while it seeks to impede the sovereignty and autonomy of our regional partners. It's crucial for the US to continue its support in countering these malicious tactics. India, along with other nations in the region, is not alone," Rubio said after introducing the US-India defence cooperation act in the Senate.
Although the bill is unlikely to make significant progress in the current Congress due to the short timeline and political divisions, it may be reintroduced in the next Congress, given the bipartisan support for the India-US relationship.
The bill outlines a Statement of Policy that the US will support India's response to growing threats to its territorial integrity, provide necessary security assistance to deter adversaries, and cooperate with India in various areas, including defence, civil space, technology, medicine, and economic investments. If passed into law, the bill would provide a limited exemption for India from CAATSA sanctions for purchases of Russian equipment currently used by the Indian military.
The proposed legislation would authorize the secretary of state to enter into a memorandum of understanding with India to increase military cooperation, expedite excess defence articles to India for two years, and grant India the same status as other allies. The bill also aims to expand International Military Education and Training Cooperation with New Delhi.