Indian American Congressman Ro Khanna on Tuesday, 10 May, urged the Joe Biden Administration to increase its supply of strategic arms to India so that it can protect itself against China against border aggression, PTI reported.
“In my time in Congress, I have been leading the initiative to have the US provide more strategic arms to India to protect itself against China on its border,” the congressman said.
“I will continue to find ways to make sure India can choose US weapons over Russian ones,” he said in a statement after meeting with community Leader Ajay Bhutoria.
The community leader also asserted that India and the US are interdependent on each for "global stability", especially in the "Indo-Pacific".
“Both the democracies — India and the US — need each other for global stability and specifically in the Indo-Pacific region. The formation of Quad with Australia, Japan, India and the US is playing a strong role in balancing the influence of China and to counter the influence of China, the US needs to build a stronger partnership with India in the defence sector and supply the required arms to India,” Bhutoria said.
India buying arms from Russia has been a sensitive issue in US foreign policy given that it allows Washington to sanction Delhi for those purchases based on a legislation known as CAATSA (Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act).
(With inputs from PTI)
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