US Must Keep Boosting Military Ties with India to Counter China

A ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) is calling on the U.S. Navy to strengthen its ties with India and the Indian Navy to further counter Chinese maritime expansionism.

“I think there’s great opportunity with the nation of India to continue to grow that relationship," said long-time HASC member Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA).

"I’ve been there to visit several times with their military leaders and they are very interested because of what China’s doing with the One Belt One Road –which essentially surrounds India."

Wittman said India "feels threatened with that, as they should–looks to the United States to partner even more. The Indian government is recapitalizing their fleet of (Indian Navy) ships, building 45 new ships, which is a pretty big task. We need to do more of the work with them.”

Adopted in 2013, the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative created by President Xi Jinping is a global infrastructure development strategy that's building roads and ports in some 70 countries. China expects to complete OBOR in 2049.

Wittman contends the Department of Defense, the U.S. defense industry and Congress must work to guarantee the U.S. gets more “capability and capacity” out of each dollar than China or Russia get out of theirs.

He said spending smart is a must given the U.S. won't ever have the unlimited resources to outspend both China and Russia. The U.S. also has to do things differently to stay ahead of China in the arms race.

“It can’t all be about defensive systems. It can’t be all about offensive systems," according to Wittman.

"It has to be about how do we do things thoughtfully to impose risks upon the Chinese, to impose uncertainty upon the Chinese, to make sure that they have to expend more of their dollars to counter that uncertainty, which helps us in being able to maintain and I hope being able to outpace them.”

Rep. Rob Wittman

Wittman said one key area where the U.S. Navy can outpace China is in unmanned platforms, which consist unmanned surface vessels (USVs) and unmanned underwater vessels (UUVs).

Wittman emphasized it’s important the Navy take the correct approach as it develops and builds new unmanned ships critical to the U.S. Navy maintaining control over the vast waters of the Indo-Pacific.

He also said the U.S. must improve its relationships with Indo-Pacific nations both strategically and economically. He admits the U.S. is not going to be able to go it alone against China.

"We will not have the ability just with economic resources that we have here at home to do all of this by ourselves," Wittman pointed out.

He said partnerships created by the United States in the Indo-Pacific are crucial because the current environment includes several threats (China, Russia and terrorism), unlike the Cold War era when the single U.S. foe was the erstwhile Soviet Union. (Jan. 27, 2021)