A top White House official on Thursday said that India is not an ally of the United States, nor will it ever be so, news agency PTI reported.
However, he also added that the United States is "destined" to work more closely with India.
These remarks were made by Kurt Campbell, the Deputy Assistant to the US President and Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific, while addressing a Washington-based think-tank.
"But it does not mean that we will not be close partners and share many things. That's how we need to understand the role that India will play as a great nation on the global stage," Campbell was quoted as saying by PTI.
"We want to encourage that and support that and deepen this relationship, which is already very strong, probably the strongest people-to-people relationship of any country that the United States has on the global stage," he added.
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Campbell went on to say that some of the actions taken by Beijing along the India-China border have been "provocative." He also asserted that the India-US relationship is the most important bilateral relationship for the United States in the 21st century.
The White House official further stated that the people-to-people ties between the two countries are already very strong, probably the strongest of any country that the United States has on the global stage. He added that he believes that the relationship between the two countries is becoming deeper, richer, and more strategically important.
In a recent report, The Centre for a New American Security (CNAS), the think tank, said that the India-China border intrusions and clashes have become more frequent and threaten to lead to all-out conflict. The increased prospect of India-China border hostility has implications for the United States and its Indo-Pacific strategy between the two Asian giants, it added.
India's engagement with China is "complex," and Chinese attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh starting from April-May 2020 seriously disturbed the peace and tranquility in border areas and impacted overall ties, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a report this month.
In its annual report for 2022, the MEA said that the External Affairs Minister conveyed to his Chinese counterpart that the restoration of normalcy in ties will require the restoration of peace and tranquility along the frontier. The MEA's annual report states that "pending the final settlement of the boundary question, maintenance of peace and tranquility in the border areas is an essential basis for the overall development of the bilateral relationship."
The CNAS report has made several recommendations to help deter and respond to further Chinese aggression along the border with India. Prominent among them include the United States elevating Indian territorial disputes with China on par with Beijing's assertiveness against other US allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific. The report recommends that the US offer India the sophisticated military technology it requires to defend its borders and initiate the co-production and co-development of military equipment and assist India in strengthening its maritime and naval capacity.
The think-tank also urges the US to conduct joint intelligence reviews with India to align assessments of Chinese plans and intentions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and enhance coordination with Indian officials on contingency planning in the event of a future India-China conflict. It asked the US to criticise Beijing's "efforts at land-grabbing" in multilateral forums, including the UN, Shangri-La Dialogue, G20, and East Asia Summit and be prepared to extend full support to India in the event of another border crisis or conflict. The report also recommends messaging Pakistan and enlisting help from other important partners to convey similar points about the need to stay neutral in the event of a potential future India-China border flare-up.
