As U.S & India Sign The Landmark Defence Pact…
What is this pact about and how is it going to help both the countries?
What Happened?
United States Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Secretary of Defence Mark Esper arrived in India on Monday for the third round of the U.S-India 2+2 ministerial dialogue. And on Tuesday, India and the U.S has signed a landmark Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA). Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that the two sides held a comprehensive talk on a range of major issues and dubbed the signing of BECA with the U.S is a “significant move”.
BECA was under discussion for over a decade but the pact had been blocked by the UPA government due to concerns raised by security forces on the protection of classified information and access to classified laboratories in India. Meanwhile, after multiple rounds of discussions, most of these concerns have been addressed.
The Pact
BECA is the last of the pact that the U.S signs with close partners. This defence agreement will allow sharing of high-end military technology, classified satellite data, geospatial information, including nautical and aeronautical charts between both the countries. The complete data is backed by highly accurate U.S satellites and this will aid in navigation as well as targeting military assets.
Under this deal, the two countries can exchange maps, commercial and other unclassified imagery, geodetic, geophysical, geomagnetic and gravity data. BECA also includes sharing of classified information, with safeguards in place to make sure that the information is not shared with any third party.
India and the U.S have already signed three major foundational agreements and they are General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) in 2002, the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) in 2016 and Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) in 2018.
The Significance
According to an article by ET, this pact might benefit India more as it will give the country access to military-grade data “that can help draw up target coordinates”. Captain Vikram Mahajan (Retd), Director of Aerospace and Defence at USISPF told Times Now News, that the information received under BECA will be useful for long-range navigation and missile-targeting with enhanced accuracy. But why does it matter? With the current geopolitical situation, this data will be relevant on both the northern and western borders of India.
Zooming Out
Analysts told The Times of India, this trip by the U.S officials is part of the U.S’ latest effort to strengthen allies against China, which has been making political and military inroads across Asia. Also, Mike Pompeo said that the U.S “stands with India to deal with any threat”. He also expressed the U.S’ support for India in its efforts to “defend its sovereignty”.
He was quoted by NDTV, saying, “Our leaders and our citizens see with increasing clarity that the Chinese Communist Party is no friend to democracy, the rule of law, transparency nor the freedom of navigation, the foundation of a free and open and prosperous Indo-Pacific. I’m glad to say India and the US are taking all steps to strengthen cooperation against all threats and not just those posed by the CCP”.
With the mounting Indo-China tensions, this pact shows that the U.S is one of India’s strongest allies and after the U.S elections in November, we have to see what the next U.S President has in store for India.
Head to moneyguru’s Insight section to stay updated on all major financial news updates of the day!
