Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III Joint Remarks With Indian Defense Minister Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh in New Delhi

 March 20, 2021

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III; Indian Defense Minister Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh

---

STAFF: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.  His excellency Lloyd James Austin, Secretary of Defense for the United States of America.  His excellency Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh, Defense Minister of India. Delegation members from both countries. (Inaudible) and the media. 

As you are aware, our two delegations have just concluded their talks on defense cooperation. In this regard I would like to invite first his excellency Rajnath Singh to (inaudible)

(UNTRANSLATED)

RAKSHA MANTRI SHRI RAJNATH SINGH, INDIAN DEFENSE MINISTER:  Thank you. I would like to read my initial statement in English. 

Excellency Secretary Austin, ladies and gentleman, it is great honor and pleasure to receive U.S. Secretary of Defense, Mr. Austin, in his first official visit abroad and to India. 

I just spoke with Secretary Austin immediately after he assumed charge. We had an excellent conversation during which I invited him to visit India at his earliest convenience. His visit to India, despite the COVID-19 global pandemic, shows the abiding commitment of the United States to our bilateral relationship.

I am happy to inform that we had a comprehensive and fruitful discussion with Secretary Austin and his delegation. We are keen to work together to realize the full potential of the India-U.S. Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership.

Our discussions today focused on our wide ranging defense cooperation and expanding military-to-military engagement across services, information sharing, cooperation in emerging sectors of defense, and mutual logistics support.

We reviewed the wide gamut of bilateral and multilateral exercises and agreed to pursue enhanced cooperation with the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Central Command and Africa Command. Acknowledging that we have in place the foundational agreements, LEMOA, COMCASA, and BECA, we discussed the steps to be taken to realize their full potential for mutual benefit.

I conveyed my appreciation to Secretary Austin for participation of U.S. in Aero India 2021 along with a business delegation. I invited U.S. industry to take advantage of India's liberalized foreign direct investment policies in the defense sector. We both agreed that there are opportunities for collaboration in defense industry.

The recent Leaders' Summit of India, USA, Japan, and Australia under the Quad framework emphasized our resolve to maintain a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. We discussed the need for enhanced capacity building to address some of the non-traditional challenges such as oil spills and environment disasters, drug trafficking, illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, et cetera.

India is committed to further consolidate our robust defense partnership with the United States. I look forward to working with you, Excellency, closely to make the India-U.S. relationship one of the defining partnerships of 21st century.

Thank you very much. 

STAFF: Thank you, sir.  Now I express Secretary Austin to make his statement. 

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE LLOYD J. AUSTIN III: Well, unfortunately, I can only provide my comments in English. 

(Laughter.)

Well, thanks to everyone for coming. And first and foremost, I'd like to express my deepest condolences for the tragic accident that killed an Indian Air Force pilot earlier this week. Our hearts go out to his family and friends and his death reminds us of a risk that our brave servicemen and women take each of these days to defend our democracies, our people, and our way of life. 

Today I want to thank Minister Singh for the warm welcome and the deepest thanks -- my deepest thanks go out to the people of India for their gracious hospitality. 

It is indeed a privilege to be here at New Delhi on my first overseas trip as Secretary of Defense. And I'm grateful for the opportunity to meet with my counterpart, despite the challenges from COVID-19. 

I'm pleased to report that Minister Singh and I had a very productive discussion, as you've heard, on a number of security interests that are important to our two countries. And at the top of my agenda, I want to convey the Biden-Harris administration's message of our strong commitment to our allies and partners. 

India, in particular, is an increasingly important partner among today's rapidly shifting international dynamics. And I reaffirmed our commitment to a comprehensive and forward-looking defense partnership with India as a central pillar of our approach to the region. 

As the world faces a global pandemic and growing challenges through an open and stable international system, the U.S. and India relationship is a stronghold of a free and open Indo-Pacific region. 

Prime Minister Modi has stated that India stands for freedom of navigation and freedom of overflight, unimpeded, lawful commerce, and inherence to international law. 

So this is a resounding affirmation of our shared vision for regional security in the Indo-Pacific. And it's clear that the importance of this partnership and its impact to the international rules-based order will only grow in the years ahead. 

Our work today is grounded in our shared values and converging strategic interests. We discussed opportunities to elevate the U.S.-India major defense partnership, which is a priority of the Biden-Harris administration. And we'll do that through regional security cooperation and military-to-military interactions and defense trade. 

In addition, we are continuing to advance new areas of collaboration, including information sharing and logistics, and artificial intelligence, and cooperation in new domains such as space and cyber. We also discussed engagement with like-minded partners through multilateral groupings such as the Quad and ASEAN. 

And as the Indo-Pacific region faces acute transnational challenges, such as climate changes and challenges to a free and open regional border, cooperation among like-minded countries is imperative to securing our shared vision for the future. 

Despite today's challenging security environment, the partnership between the United States and India, the world's two largest democracies, remains resilient and strong. And we will seek every opportunity to build upon this major partnership. 

Thanks again to Minister Singh for your warm hospitality and for your strong leadership as we continue to deepen our cooperation and advance our shared interests and values and defend the international rules-based order. 

I look forward to working with you in the years ahead and I'm confident that together we can build a partnership that's fit for today's and tomorrow's challenges. 

Thank you very much, sir. 

STAFF: Thank you very much, sir.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III Press Conference in New Delhi

 March 20, 2021

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III

---

STAFF: Good afternoon, everybody. Please make sure you silenced your electronics before we begin. As I had mentioned earlier, the Secretary's got about 20 minutes. There's no opening statement. This is an on the record press opportunity. And I will call on you in turn. So we can get right to the -- right started right at it. 

First question, for you, Jim, go ahead. Jim?

Q: Me?

STAFF: Yes.

Q: Not used to that. Mr. Secretary at the -- you mentioned that you had discussions on engagement with -- discussions with Minister Singh on having engagements with like-minded partners in a multilateral group like the Quad or ASEAN. How do you see that materializing? How do you see that operationalizing, if you will? 

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE LLOYD J. AUSTIN III: Yes, I, clearly from a defense perspective, we do have a number of things in common, and if you just look at the countries overall, if you look at Australia, India, Japan, us, you know we really are interested in maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region. We're interested in being able to navigate the seas and fly the skies and international space and maintain in that degree of flexibility. 

Now if you look at the fact that India and us are the largest democracies in the world. There's clearly some shared values there that we’ll continue work together to -- we can build upon that and we are building upon it in an economic interest. So there are a number of things that we can and will work on going forward.

Q: And if I could just ask a follow-up. Does this mean you anticipate having more Indian officers in American headquarters and vice versa? And more exchange in like professional military education, perhaps larger exercises with the countries out here? 

SEC. AUSTIN: We'll see what happens. I mean these are all mutual agreements in terms of the directions that we want to take. And clearly in terms of increasing interoperability then more exercises are good. And, so, we'll see. But, again, we can expect that there'll be frequent exchanges and we look forward to the ability to work together to build great capacity, greater capability going forward.

Q: Thank you.

STAFF: (Inaudible)

Q: Hello, Secretary. Welcome to India. Do you share the concerns expressed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chief that India was trending away from democracy? And in his letter to you suggested that the crackdown on progressive farmers, intimidating journalists and government critics was problematic? Do you share that concern?

SEC. AUSTIN: You've heard President Biden say that human rights and rule of law is important to the United States of America. We always lead with our values and as a democracy that's pretty important to us. And, again, India is a democratic country and they -- you treasure your values as well. There are a number of things that we can and will work on together. 

STAFF: Lara?

Q: Hi Mr. Secretary thanks for doing this. I just wondered if during your discussions with Prime Minister Modi or Minister Singh, during those meetings did you press them not to buy the S-400? And what problems would that propose for the U.S./India relationship?

SEC. AUSTIN: Lara we -- we have countries that we work with from time to time that have Soviet or excuse me Russian equipment that they acquired over the years are we certainly urge all our allies and partners to move away from Soviet or excuse me Russian equipment. In some cases it was Soviet equipment because they bought it so long ago.

But to move away from that and really avoid any kind of acquisitions that would trigger sanctions on our behalf. There has -- there has been no delivery of an S-400 system. And so that conversation -- the issues of sanctions is not one that's been discussed. But we did address with the Minister of Defense the issue of the S-400. 

Q: So, if I can just follow-up. You (inaudible) sanctioned Turkey over the purchase of the S-400. So this must be something that is on your mind and their mind. So, is that -- is sanctions on the table?

SEC. AUSTIN: Again they have not -- have not acquired an S-400 system yet. So, there would be no reason for sanctions (inaudible).

Q: So that's the agreement that they have? They (inaudible) delivery but they have an agreement to purchase that system?

SEC. AUSTIN: Yes, we're aware of the fact that they have expressed an interest in acquiring a system. But again that system has not been delivered.

STAFF: Vishnu?

Q: I've asked. 

STAFF: I'm sorry. Phillip. 

Q: Yes. (Inaudible) with China. In the last one year because of dangers with (inaudible) has U.S. thought at any point that war between India and China was imminent? And also as a follow-on, what do you think how India and U.S. can collaborate to get -- to counter the Chinese aggression, not just in (inaudible) and in borders with India but also in the Asia-Pacific region or Indo-Pacific as you would say. 

SEC. AUSTIN: So, let me make sure I have your question straight here. Is the first part of the question whether or not we thought a war between China and India was imminent?

Q: Yes.

SEC. AUSTIN: And the second part was?

Q: The second part was, how do you -- what do you think India and U.S. can do together to counter Chinese aggression? Do you feel that India needs to do more with U.S. in terms of joint patrolling in terms of more collaborative approach in the Indo-Pacific?

SEC. AUSTIN: Well the first part of the question, the answer is, no. To my knowledge we've never considered that India and China were on the threshold of war. The second part of the question in terms of what can be done to check Chinese aggression in the region. I think -- I think that continuing to work with like minded countries as we are working with India, we are working with Australia, Japan and others in the region to ensure that we maintain a freedom of navigation that we do -- we're doing the right things to promote peace and stability in the region and that we really work together to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific region. 

A lot of capability with the -- capabilities with these various countries and again I think working together with like minded countries who have shared interests is the way you check any aggression in any region. And so we'll -- you can look for us to continue to do that in the future. 

STAFF: Sylvie. 

Q: Thank you. Thank you for doing this Mr. Secretary. Diplomacy and human rights an important part of the Biden/Harris administration. Since you are the first member of the administration to meet with Prime Minister Modi, did you raise the question of violations of the human rights especially against Muslim minorities in (inaudible)?

SEC. AUSTIN: Thanks. And to answer your question about whether or not I engaged the Prime Minister on that specific issue, I did not have an opportunity to talk with him about that. Having said that, I did have a conversation with other members of the Cabinet on this -- on this issue. And I think -- we have to remember that India is our partner and a partner that -- whose partnership we value. And I think partners need to be able to have those kinds of discussions. 

And certainly we're -- we feel comfortable in doing that. And you can have those discussions in a very meaningful way and still -- and make progress. 

STAFF: (Inaudible)

Q: (Inaudible) the historical Quad being expanded to include countries like South Korea? Is that on the path? And will Australia now become a permanent member of the Malabar exercise? 

SEC. AUSTIN: I think your question was is the Quad going to expand to include other countries? Again, I -- from our perspective we're always willing to work with countries who share our values and have like goals and aspirations. And so whether or not those countries will choose to align with the United States and others is up to them. 

But, again, we're always willing to work with folks who share our values and share our aspirations. 

STAFF: Dan? 

Q: Mr. Secretary, thank you. In the last week President Biden has said that he can see U.S. troops staying in Afghanistan beyond May 1st. "NBC News" has reported that discussion focus on November. As we look at this, is that true especially in light of General Miller, General McKenzie and some other senior officers raising concerns that the conditions on the ground simply do not merit it at this time?

SEC. AUSTIN: I'm aware that there is speculation that the president has made a decision on keeping troops there to November -- until November. And I'm a pretty prominent guy in those discussion typically and to my knowledge the President has not made a decision or made any announcements on when he'll decide to remove the troops. So that, as you know, there's a rigorous process that's ongoing as the President really works his way through making that decision. 

And no decisions have been made. No decision on length of stay or troop numbers have been made to this point. So, I'll leave it at that.

Q: If I could follow-up? It seems to me and many others that we're running into a physics problem at some point if we're going to adhere to that May 1st deadline. Just in terms of getting things out safely and in some sort of orderly fashion.  How are you going to make this happen if it's actually May 1st?

SEC. AUSTIN: Well, we are mindful of the timelines and requirements that the Taliban has kind of laid on the table. I would just tell you that there's probably nobody who understands the physics associated with removing troops and equipment out of a place better than me. And I think that, you know, as we work through this process we'll keep all those things in mind and we'll keep as many options open as we can. And we'll -- whatever the decision the President makes you can trust that it will be fully supported. And the experts like General Miller and General Milley and General McKenzie, once given, you know, the mission to accomplish things one way or the other, they'll get it done and they'll do -- they'll do a great job at getting it done, as well. 

We're going to take the last question here John.

STAFF: Jack.

Q: Mr. Secretary, do you see India operationalizing its foreign policy enough to deal with China since it's historically been a non-aligned country and also focused on Pakistan? And then just did your conversations touch at all on arms sales such as the MQ-9 or a base access, since I know that's something the U.S. has been pushing?

SEC. AUSTIN: Well, as you would imagine with two chiefs of defense we covered a wide range of topics that included equipment. It also included information sharing; it included additional opportunities for assisting each other logistically and just a number of things. And those were really, really good conversations.

And quite frankly I leave those conversation very encourage about what's in the realm of possible going forward. We consider India to be a great partner and again I think we have done a number of things to work well together. There's just a lot of opportunity there to strengthen that partnership and to do some things, additional things to make sure that we're promoting peace and stability in the region and providing for a free and open Indo-Pacific region, as well.

Q: Are they at a point where they're prioritizing the China threat over the Pakistan issue as they historically do? 

SEC. AUSTIN: I think that's probably better answered by the Indian government in terms of what their priorities are. My concern is that they prioritize their relationship with us and their willingness to work with us at the very top of their list of priorities here. So, again, in my engagements here I walk away very encouraged, not only by the hospitality that we've enjoyed while we've been here, but by the forward thinking and forward leaning that we witnessed with the -- with the Pakistanis.  

STAFF: Thanks, everybody. 

SEC. AUSTIN: Excuse with the Indians, I'm very, very sorry -- the Indians, sorry.

STAFF: Thanks, everybody. 

Q: Thanks for doing this.

India, U.S. Look at Ways to Grow Partnership to Protect Indo-Pacific

 March 20, 2021 | BY Jim Garamone , DOD News

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III came away from his meetings with Indian officials in New Delhi encouraged by the response from "an increasingly important partner amid today's rapidly shifting international dynamics."

The secretary stressed the U.S. commitment to allies and partners throughout the region. India is a major defense partner to the United States. "I think working together with like-minded countries who have shared interests is the way you check any aggression in any region," the secretary told reporters traveling with him. "And so you can look for us to continue to do that in the future."

... It's clear that the importance of this partnership, and its impact [on] the international rules-based order will only grow in the years ahead."

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III

India is a key pillar in U.S. strategy in the Indo-Pacific region. Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that India stands for "freedom of navigation and overflight, unimpeded lawful commerce and adherence to international law."

So does the United States, Austin said. "As the world faces a global pandemic and growing challenges to an open and stable international system, the U.S.-India relationship is a stronghold of a free and open Indo-Pacific region," he said. "And it's clear that the importance of this partnership, and its impact [on] the international rules-based order will only grow in the years ahead."

India – traditionally a non-aligned state – sees converging strategic interests with the United States in this regard. The U.S. and India have begun military exercises together and have worked in some operations together – most notably a counter piracy effort off the coast of East Africa and in the Gulf of Aden. 

The secretary met with Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh earlier in the day and discussed opportunities to elevate the U.S.-India Major Defense Partnership through regional security cooperation, military-to-military interactions and defense trade. 

"These are all mutual agreements in terms of the directions that we're wanting to take," Austin said. "And clearly, in terms of increasing interoperability … more exercises are good. And so, we'll see. But again, we can expect that there will be frequent exchanges and we look forward to the ability to work together to build greater capacity and capability going forward."

Some of the areas the leaders agreed to work in include: information-sharing, logistics cooperation, artificial intelligence, and cooperation in new domains such as space and cyber.

Singh issued a statement after his meeting with Austin that India is "keen to work together to realize the full potential of the India-US comprehensive global strategic partnership."

Singh said the two men "reviewed the wide gamut of bilateral and multilateral exercises and agreed to pursue enhanced cooperation with the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Central Command and Africa Command."

Both men stated that the India-U.S. relationship could be one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century.

Related News: In India, Austin Looks for Ways to Increase Cooperation With Allies