India-China Border Tensions Reflect Growing Chinese Aggression: Biden's Pentagon Nominee

Answering a question on India, Kahl talked about continuing to operationalise India's status as a Major Defence Partner of the US.

Washington: Tensions between India and China at the border reflect a disturbing trend of the latter’s growing aggression and assertion in the region and toward allies of the United States, President Joe Biden's pick for top Pentagon policy job, Colin Kahl has told lawmakers.

Colin Kahl was speaking to the members of the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing for Defence Under Secretary for Policy.

“The India-China border tensions reflect a concerning trend of growing aggressiveness and assertiveness by China in the region, including toward allies and partners of the United States,” said Kahl.

“We will, however, continue to stand by our allies and partners and support their ongoing efforts to deescalate the situation. If confirmed, I will continue to monitor the situation closely as both parties work toward a peaceful resolution,” he stated in his written answers to the questions for his confirmation hearing.

Answering a question on India, Kahl said that if confirmed, he would position the US and Indian militaries to cooperate more closely for advancing shared interests in the Indo-Pacific region and also continuing to operationalise India's status as a Major Defence Partner.

“To continue elevating the US-India partnership, I would prioritise a few promising areas of cooperation. These include deepening information-sharing and mutual logistics operations, growing our defence trade and technology relationship, and expanding high-end cooperation in the maritime domain, including in the Indian Ocean region and southeast Asia,” Kahl said.

Responding to questions, Kahl termed growing worries over China as the biggest opportunity for the US to utilise.

“That is, I think that a lot of our allies and partners are nervous. Frankly, I think that the pandemic and China's early cover-up of the pandemic, and some of its heavy ended, wolf warrior diplomacies during the pandemic have also created opportunities for us to lean in with countries who are increasingly worried about Beijing,” he said.

Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Jack Reed, shared that the US must take a long-term approach to strategic competition with China which the Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin had described as the pacing threat for the Department of Defense.

“Competing effectively with China requires that we develop new technologies to rival China's advancements in new operational concepts to ensure the desired effect against Chinese aggression,” he said.

Kahl noted that China is the only country in the world that can challenge the United States systematically in several ways including the economic domain, the technological domain, the military domain, and even in shaping international order more broadly.

(With Agency Inputs)