India has demonstrated it has the will and capabilities to stand up to China: US official

NEW DELHI: India has “demonstrated it has the will and the capabilities to stand up to China,” said Lisa Curtis, deputy assistant to President Donald Trump and Director of the US National Security Council’s South and Central Asia Bureau. In remarks to US think tank, Brookings Institution, the senior White House official said, China’s “recent aggressive stance at LAC in Ladakh fits with the larger pattern of PRC aggression in other parts of the world.”

The US, on the other hand, supports India’s rise as a power and a net security provider in the Indian Ocean “and beyond.”

In the current India-China crisis, Curtis said, India “played the economic card by banning Chinese apps and putting a hold on Chinese investment contracts. And I think the rest of the Indo-Pacific region is watching this very carefully,” adding that the region would be “encouraged by India’s resolve.”

LAC stand-off: Complete coverage

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