Communist China continues to aggressively expand its domain in the Indo-Pacific region, all the while it seeks to impede the sovereignty and autonomy of our regional partners. It’s crucial for the US to continue its support in countering these malicious tactics. India, along with other nations in the region, is not alone, Rubio said after he introduced the US-India Defense Cooperation Act in the Senate.
Given the short timeline of a bitterly divided Congress in an election year the bill is unlikely to make much headway, but might be reintroduced in the next Congress given a level of bipartisan support on India-US relationship. Sources here said India is keeping a watch on Congress proceedings regarding the bill.
When passed into law, the bill would provide a limited exemption for India from Caatsa sanctions for purchasing Russian equipment that are currently used by the Indian military.
The bill also seeks to authorise the US Secretary of State to enter into a memorandum of understanding with India to increase military cooperation, expedite excess defence articles to India for two years and grant India the same status as other allies and expand international military education and training cooperation with New Delhi.This is for the first time such an India-centric bill has been introduced in the US Congress that proposes to put India at the same level of that of its treaty ally, exempt it from Caatsa sanctions, and impose sanctions on Pakistan for promoting terrorism in India.In 2022, the US House of Representatives approved an India-specific Caatsa waiver for its purchase of S-400 missile defence system from Russia.
