WASHINGTON: A key event before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US is the recommendation from a strong Congressional Committee to incorporate India in NATO Plus.
In order to improve international defence cooperation, NATO Plus joins NATO with Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Israel, and South Korea.
The admission of India will facilitate seamless intelligence sharing between these countries and provide India with immediate access to cutting-edge military technology.
The House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) overwhelmingly approved a policy plan to increase Taiwan's deterrent, notably by enlarging NATO Plus to include India. The committee was led by Mike Gallagher as chairman and Raja Krishnamoorthi as ranking member.
"Winning the strategic competition with the Chinese Communist Party and ensuring the security of Taiwan demands the United States strengthen ties to our allies and security partners, including India. Including India in NATO Plus security arrangements would build upon the US and India's close partnership to strengthen global security and deter the aggression of the CCP across the Indo-Pacific region," the Select Committee recommended.
A project of the Republican leadership is the Select Committee, also referred to as the China Committee.
Ramesh Kapoor, an Indian-American who has been working on this idea for six years, believes that this is a huge development. He was confident that the plan will be included in the 2024 National Defence Authorization Act and would ultimately become a requirement that everyone must abide by.
According to the China Committee's set of recommendations, economic penalties against China in the event of an attack on Taiwan will be most successful if important allies like the G7, NATO, NATO+5, and Quad members join.
Negotiating a coordinated reaction and spreading this message also have the added effect of increasing deterrence.
"Much like we do joint contingency planning for war fighting, we need to coordinate in peacetime with US allies. To that end, Congress should pass legislation similar to the STAND with Taiwan Act of 2023 that mandates the development of an economic sanctions package to be employed in the event of a PRC attack on Taiwan," it said.
It should also pass legislation to counter the PRC's economic pressure, including measures to help international partners who are the PRC's targets of that coercion. The commitment of money to Taiwan is the flip side of financial discouragement.
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