While at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Saturday that China is continuing to harden the position along the border it shares with India and that the United States stands by its mutual defense commitments.
Austin also said that China is taking aggressive and illegal approaches to its claims on the territory in the South China Sea while it advances its maritime plans.
"Further to the West, we see Beijing continuing to harden the borders it shares with India" he stated. "We remain unwavering in our mutual defense commitments".
Austin said that "We also stand by our friends as they uphold their rights that is especially important as the People's Republic of China adopts the war coercive and aggressive approach to its territorial claims" and said that the U.S. believes India's "growing military capability and technological prowess can be a stabilizing force in the region".
Charles A Flynn, a top US General just a day before had said that the activity by China near Ladakh is 'eye-opening' and that the infrastructure being created there is 'alarming' and said that the "destabilizing and corrosive" behavior of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the Indo-Pacific region is not helpful.
Austin also said that China is taking aggressive and illegal approaches to its claims on the territory in the South China Sea while it advances its maritime plans.
"Further to the West, we see Beijing continuing to harden the borders it shares with India" he stated. "We remain unwavering in our mutual defense commitments".
Austin said that "We also stand by our friends as they uphold their rights that is especially important as the People's Republic of China adopts the war coercive and aggressive approach to its territorial claims" and said that the U.S. believes India's "growing military capability and technological prowess can be a stabilizing force in the region".
Charles A Flynn, a top US General just a day before had said that the activity by China near Ladakh is 'eye-opening' and that the infrastructure being created there is 'alarming' and said that the "destabilizing and corrosive" behavior of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the Indo-Pacific region is not helpful.