WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is closely monitoring border disputes between India and China and supporting its peaceful resolution through direct dialogue, the State Department said on Tuesday, while emphasizing that it supports allies and partners like India.
“We are watching the ongoing negotiations between the governments of India and China,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told a news conference.
“We continue to support direct dialogue and a peaceful resolution of these border disputes,” he said, and added: “We are concerned about the pattern of Beijing’s ongoing attempts to intimidate its neighbors. As always, we will be with friends, we” I I will stay with the partners, we will stay with the allies. “
India and China are in a military standoff because of their disputed mountainous border, and Indian public opinion has hardened against Beijing after soldiers were killed in a clash there.
Price spoke after a call earlier in the day between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
The State Department said the purpose of the call was “to reaffirm the strength of the US-India partnership” and issues of mutual interest, including Myanmar.
Myanmar’s military overthrew the newly elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1 and detained her and other politicians in her National League for Democracy (NLD).
The two also discussed cooperation across the Indo-Pacific, the statement said, adding that they hoped to expand regional cooperation, including through Quad, an informal grouping of the United States, India, Japan and Australia seen as a way to back off against China’s growing assertiveness.
New US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to a phone call on Monday to strengthen Indo-Pacific security through the Quad.
(Reporting by Simon Lewis, Doina Chiacu, Daphne Psaledakis and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Chris Reese and Sonya Hepinstall)