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US plans to make India 'world power'
Tightens the Pak turbans, doesn't it?
The US unveiled plans late on Friday to help India become a "major world power in the 21st century" even as it announced moves to beef up the military of Pakistan. Under the plans, Washington offered to step up a strategic dialogue with India to boost missile defence and other security initiatives as well as high-tech cooperation and expanded economic and energy cooperation. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has explained to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the Bush administration's outline for a "decisively broader strategic relationship" between the world's oldest and largest democracies, a senior US official said. "Its goal is to help India become a major world power in the 21st century," said the official, who asked not to be named. "We understand fully the implications, including military implications, of that statement."

He did not elaborate but noted that South Asia was critical, with China on one side, Iran and the Middle East on the other, and a somewhat turbulent Central Asian region to the north. Rice discussed the US-India plan with Prime Minister Singh during her Asian visit earlier this month but it was not revealed to the public. The US proposal culminates efforts to repair relations strained by India's May 1998 nuclear tests. Bush was inviting Prime Minister Singh to visit him in July in Washington and the US leader would also like to travel to South Asia later this year or early next year, he said. The strategic dialogue will include global issues, regional security matters, Indian defence requirements, expanding high-tech cooperation and even working toward US-India defence co-production, the official explained. The US, he said, was prepared to "respond positively" to an Indian request for information on American initiatives to sell New Delhi the next generation of multi-role combat aircraft. "That's not just F-16s. It could be F-18s," he said. Beyond possible sale of fighter planes, the US is ready to discuss the more fundamental issue of defence transformation with India, including transformative systems in areas such as command and control, early warning and missile defence, the official said.
Posted by: Fred 2005-03-27
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=59952