Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visited India this month to forge stronger security and economic ties between our two great nations. The visit was highly significant, because it came amid the most dangerous power dynamics we have seen in the Indo-Pacific region for a generation.
China is no longer a growing or emerging threat, but poses a direct danger to our regional allies and partners. Beijing is also a broader threat to the stability of the global order, and to the pre-eminence of democracy and the rule of law that has struggled but endured since the end of the Cold War.
Neither the United States nor India can take on this challenge alone. Bilateral security cooperation and multilateral efforts including Quadrilateral Security Dialogue have never been so important.