US general identifies India as ‘counterweight’ to China

A top US general says the United States and India will hold a joint military exercise in the Himalayas in October as a “counterweight” to China.

General Charles Flynn, the commander of the US Army Pacific, told reporters on Wednesday during his trip to New Delhi that this year’s annual “Yudh Abhyas” (Training for War) exercise will be held at an altitude between 9,000 and 10,000 feet, RT reported.

He said that air force units from both countries, including attack planes and medevacs, will participate in the training. The exact location has not been revealed.

“These are all invaluable opportunities that the Indian Army and the US Army can capitalize on in these training environments,” Flynn said.

The US commander added that such maneuvers have had a “deterrent effect” across the region.

Flynn accused Beijing of “destabilizing and coercive behavior” in the southern Himalayas, where China and India have a long-standing border dispute.

The Indian government last month accused China of illegally building two bridges on the Pangong Tso Lake. Flynn described such activities as “eye-opening” and “alarming.”

 “I think it is worthy of us working together as a counterweight to some of those corrosive and corrupted behaviors,” the US general said.

"If India and China decide to fight over who will control the lands at their periphery, they will enable the US to ultimately control both parties," said an American journalist.

"Either Eurasia will find unity and common purpose in protecting its sovereignty and right to decide its own path, or it will squabble among its constituent parts and be dominated by Euro-American imperialism. The 18th, 19th and 20th centuries provide ample evidence of this. The same is true of Russia and China, India and Pakistan, and, by the way, Japan, Korea and the Philippines," Don DeBar told Press TV. 

The development comes as the Biden administration is trying to increase its footprints in Southeast Asia by resetting ties with regional countries in an attempt to form a military coalition against China, which has time and again said that Washington is expanding militarism in the regions far from its borders, while it tries to justify its military presence in the Southeast Asian region by making baseless allegations against Beijing.

China claims the South China Sea in its entirety. The Philippines, Malaysia, two would-be members of the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), a mega “economic arrangement”, and Vietnam, as well as Brunei, have overlapping claims to parts of the sea.

The US and its allies side with Beijing's rival claimants in the maritime disputes in the South China Sea, while China has always warned the US against military activities in the waters.

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Meanwhile, China and Russia have conducted their first military exercise since Moscow launched its military operation in Eastern Ukraine.

The nuclear-capable bombers of China and Russia last month conducted a joint flight over the Sea of Japan, East China Sea, and the Western Pacific, according to China's defense ministry.

The ministry said that the patrol is part of the two countries’ “annual military cooperation plan.”

The two countries had previously held such patrols in 2019, 2020, and 2021 but in the latter half of the year.

Russia said the 13-hour flight was carried out “strictly in accordance with the provisions of international law” and was not directed against third countries.

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