China offers qualified support for Indo-US logistics pact

China on Tuesday responded by offering qualified support to the military logistics agreement signed between India and the United States, which would enable both countries to use each other’s land, air and naval bases for repair and replenishment.

“We have noted relevant report. Hope that this cooperation between India and the U.S. would work to promote stability and development of the region,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in response to a question about the Indo-U.S. Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA). She added, “For such normal cooperation between the two sides we are glad to see it happen.”

Earlier, an editorial in the state-run

Global Times titled “Is India heading toward alliance with U.S.?” advocated that India should not give up its non-aligned policy as it allowed it maximum space for strategic manoeuvre vis-à-vis the major powers. “Due to its non-alignment policy, India has been given attention from all the major powers such as the U.S., Japan, China and Russia in recent years. Now is arguably a time when India has the most room for strategic manoeuvring.”

But the daily warned that a hasty alliance with the U.S., rather than bolster, can, on the contrary, undermine Indian security. “If India hastily joins the U.S. alliance system, it may irritate China, Pakistan or even Russia. It may not make India feel safer, but will bring strategic troubles to itself and make itself a centre of geopolitical rivalries in Asia.”

The editorial underscored that the U.S. has been “deliberately” wooing India to become a quasi-ally in order to impose “geopolitical pressure on China”. It added that during Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe’s first term, “Japan hyped the concept of a quadrilateral alliance between the U.S., Japan, Australia and India.” But New Delhi remained “cool” to the idea.

“Therefore, India will not lean toward the U.S., because it will not only hurt India's self-esteem, more importantly, India can gain more strategic benefits by striking a balance between China and the U.S.” Nevertheless the daily noted that the agreement is “undoubtedly a leap forward in U.S.-India military cooperation”. It added, “U.S. media highly applauded this deal, with Forbes hailing it as a ‘war pact’ and believing that India is shifting away from Russia, its Cold War ally, toward a new alliance with the U.S.”