United States Navy Admiral John Aquilino on Wednesday said that China has the largest military-build ups in the world since the Second World War, and the lack of clarity over its intent is a cause of concern.
Aquilino, who is on a three-day visit to India, is the Commander of America’s Indo-Pacific Command. He further said that China has both conventional and nuclear power in all domains.
The US Admiral met Army Chief General M M Naravane, Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria, Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh, and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during the course of the day. Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat was also present at the speaking event and talked about the Afghanistan situation.
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“What I would look at is the entire Chinese way forward with regard to military expansion…. the largest military build-up in history since WW2, both conventional and nuclear, in all domains,” Aquilino said at a speaking event organized by the Observer Research Foundation.
Aquilino then went on to criticize the PLA saying that their actions do not always meet their promises. “We continue to see that words from the PLA (China’s army) do not always match the deeds. It is one of the reasons that we are concerned,” Aquilino said, adding “the real question is not why, but what they intend to do with” their military might.
Meanwhile, Gen Rawat talked about the Afghanistan situation that has been unfolding ever since the US decided to withdraw its troops from the country. He further said that any terrorist activity flowing out of Taliban-controlled-Afghanistan and reaching India will be strongly dealt with. He further called for the cooperation of the Quad group against global terrorism.
Both talked about the importance of bilateral and multilateral engagement amidst the dominance of China in the South China Sea. India and the US, along with Japan and Australia are part of the Quad group which recently carried out joint naval exercises.
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Saying “coordination across Quad nations, at least from a military perspective, happens every day”, Aquilino said the partnership with India was “critical because we are like-minded nations”, and shared values for a rules-based international order.
