New Delhi, July 23 (ANI): Describing the U.S.-India relationship as being global in scope, visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter said on Monday that Washington and New Delhi are "kindred souls" that share common value and interests, besides strong bonds in trade, technology and security.
Addressing a function at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here, Carter said: "I like to think of India and the United States as kindred souls. We share common values as well as common interests, and we share strong bonds in trade and technology, as well as security."
"President Obama has called the U.S.-India bilateral relationship one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century. And our defense cooperation, the topic of my talk, is a central part of our partnership," he added.
Carter said he was looking forward to visiting India's Technology Corridor on Tuesday, and added: "There we will all be reminded of what is happening in the overall world of technology and industry."
He added: "There, cooperation is the norm. The leaders of industry globally, such as those in this room, know it."
"Sometimes, we in the security community lag behind them in our ability to cooperate and advance technology. But the wisest of our industrial leaders, including CII, also understand that without security, none of the other good things in life are possible - family, prosperity, progress, let alone business," Carter said.
Dwelling on the practical steps India and the United States could take to improve bilateral defense cooperation, Carter said: "We want to develop a joint vision for U.S.-India defense cooperation. We want to get to a place where we continuously discover new opportunities to make innovative investments that benefit both countries for generations."
He added: "The only limit to our cooperation should be our independent strategic decisions - as any two states may differ - not bureaucratic red tape."
Carter said that the US-India relationship has come a long way in the past decade.
"Our goal is to make it even stronger. We need to define where we want to go, and then make it possible to get there. We on the U.S. side have no preconceived model for this relationship, or for India's role in this region or in the world," said Carter.
Re-emphasizing that Washington respects India's decision to follow its strategic interests, Carter said: "Our relationship will be a unique one, based on trust, sharing, and reliability. It will be shaped by our own strategic decisions and, I hope, by a deep strategic dialogue such as that which Secretary Panetta engaged in, when he was here in June."
He also said that the last ten years have had a profound impact on world affairs, affecting the United States, but also countries across the Asia-Pacific region and around the world.
"We now find ourselves at a strategic inflection point in the United States, with two forces impinging upon us," Carter said.
"The time has come for us in the United States to look up, and look out, to what the world needs next, and to the security challenges that will define our future," he said.
"A central tenet of our new strategy is our rebalance to thesia-Pacific region. The rebalance is reflected in force structure decisions we make (that is, what we keep and what we cut), in our posture and presence (that is, where we put things), in new investments we are making in technology and weapons systems, in innovative operational plans and tactics, and in alliances and partnerships in the region. Importantly, here in India, our rebalance extends to Southeast Asia and South Asia," Carter said.
"The logic of the rebalance is simple: The Asia-Pacific region has enjoyed an environment of peace and stability for more than 60 years, allowing Japan to rise and prosper, then Korea to rise and prosper, next Southeast Asia to rise and prosper, and now China, in a very different way than India, to rise and prosper," he added.
"The wellsprings of that security have not been found within the region itself - there's no NATO here. In the absence of an over-arching security structure, the United States military presence has played a pivotal role in ensuring regional stability. We intend to continue to play that role. It is good for us, and it is good for everyone in the region," Carter said.
"Our rebalance is not about China or the United States or India or any other single country or group of countries: It is about a peaceful Asia-Pacific region, where sovereign states can enjoy the benefits of security and continue to prosper," he said.
"In the future, our Asia-Pacific posture will increase relative to other theaters. We intend to have 60 percent of our naval assets in the Pacific by 2020," he concluded. (ANI)
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