India today said if the American "trumpet" was more "certain" in Asia-Pacific region where the two countries have shared interest, it would be helpful.
The remarks, made by Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, came as US rebalances to Asia and Pacific by moving 60 per cent of its naval assets to the region by 2020. Identifying, Indo-Pacific region as an area of commonalities, Jaishankar said both countries can also act on it. He said the Joint Strategic Vision released during US President Barack Obama's visit had sought to capture the shared interest and convergences that India and the US has in the Asia Pacific region.
"As a diplomatic posture point or perhaps as pol-mil point, I would also suggest that if the American trumpet was more certain in this region, it would be helpful," he said addressing a seminar at the Vivekananda International Foundation. Speaking of bilateral defence cooperation in the region, he said it was broadly moving in the right direction. "My sense is that, from an Indian perspective today, for us the fact that the US is both a source of supply and a military partner helps to create enough uncertainties that could actually strengthen security in Indo-Pacific region," he said.
China has been concerned about the growing focus of the US in the Pacific where the South China Sea falls. Referring to China's ongoing territorial disputes with countries like Brunei, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam over South China Sea, a top Pentagon official had recently said it was provocative. "And it causes tensions to be raised in the South China Sea with all the other countries in the region. I am concerned about it. I think it is an issue of concern for all of us," Commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Admiral Harry Harris, had told a group of reporters here during his visit early this month. Harris, the highest-ranking Asian-American in the history of the US Navy, said it "behoves" all countries concerned about freedom of navigation to pay attention to what China was doing in South China Sea. "It is dramatic. It is dramatic land reclamation. It is changing facts on the ground," he had said.