US senator to push bill to add India to NATO Plus
June 21, 2023 10:14
A powerful American senator has said he plans to introduce a bill to make India part of the NATO Plus grouping that would facilitate the transfer of topmost American technology and defence equipment without much bureaucratic hassle, amid growing challenges from a rising China.
NATO Plus, currently NATO Plus 5, is a security arrangement that brings together NATO and five aligned nations -- Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Israel and South Korea -- to boost defence and intelligence ties.
"Senator (John) Cornyn and I, my co-chair at the (Senate) Indian Caucus will be introducing this week both as a standalone bill and as an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act, an effort to upgrade India, US defence ties," Senator Mark Warner told reporters at a news conference in Washington on Tuesday.
"What we propose is adding India to the so-called NATO plus five arrangement, where the United States is able to transfer, with this little bureaucratic interference as possible, defence equipment in a very strong way," he said.
Warner from the Democratic Party and Cornyn from the Republican Party are co-chairs of the Senate India Caucus, the only country-specific Congressional Caucus in the Senate. This current relationship is only between the United States and NATO and certain other key allies like South Korea, Australia, New Zealand.
India ending into that category strengthens our incredibly important defence ties, particularly as we both grapple with challenges in particular around China, Warner said. Chairperson of the powerful Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Warner said this is an extraordinarily important week for US-India relations as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting Washington for talks with US President Joe Biden.
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