Officials from the United States and India on Tuesday agreed to expand cooperation in advanced weapons, supercomputing, semiconductors and other high-tech areas as the Biden administration seeks to strengthen its ties with Asian allies and China’s dominance in cutting-edge technologies to balance.
The agreements follow two days of high-level meetings in Washington between government officials and executives from dozens of companies, the first as part of a new dialogue on critical and emerging technologies announced by President Biden and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Tokyo in May.
Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, told reporters Tuesday the goal is for technology partnerships to be “the next big milestone” in US-India relations after a Contract 2016 on cooperation in nuclear energy. He described the effort as “a great foundation of an overall strategy to bring the entire democratic world of the Indo-Pacific to a position of strength.”
The agreements will be a test of whether the Biden administration can implement its proposal “Friendshoring” by shifting the manufacturing of certain critical components to friendly countries. Biden officials have raised concerns about the United States’ continued heavy reliance on China for semiconductors, telecom parts and other essential commodities. In the last few months they have stuck down on selling advanced semiconductor technology to China to hamper an industry the White House says could give China a military advantage.
Many companies are struggling to get the factory space and skilled workers they would need to shift their supply chains out of China. India has a highly skilled workforce and a government that wants to attract more international investment, but multinationals looking to do business there continue to complain about onerous regulations, inadequate infrastructure and other obstacles.
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Both Mr. Biden and Mr. Modi are also pushing for closer cooperation between the US and India to expand their countries’ industrial and innovation bases, Mr. Sullivan said.
The partnerships announced on Tuesday include an agreement between the US and Indian national science agencies to collaborate on artificial intelligence and advanced wireless technology, among other areas.
The countries also pledged to accelerate efforts to jointly produce and develop certain defense technologies, including jet engines, artillery systems and armored infantry vehicles. The United States said it would try to quickly consider a new General Electric proposal to produce a jet engine with India.
Officials also said they would work together to facilitate the construction of an advanced cellular network in India and are looking for new semiconductor manufacturing collaborations, including efforts to help India strengthen chip research and manufacturing, that would complement each other big investments in the industry in the United States.
The new dialogue would include efforts to overcome regulatory obstacles as well as visa restrictions that have prevented talented Indians from working in the United States, the countries said.
However, experts said India needs to further reform its permit and tax system to attract more foreign manufacturing companies. And the United States would need to reform restrictions on the transfer of defense-related technology outside the country, they said, if it hopes to work with India to make jet engines and other advanced weapons.
Analysts also noted that many of the technology partnerships would depend on new links between the countries’ private sectors, meaning the agreements could only go so far.
India’s frequent purchases of Russian military equipment and close ties with Russia represent another crease in the proposed partnership. But Biden officials said they believe the cooperation could hasten India’s shift away from Russia in favor of its relationship with the United States.
On Monday, Mr. Sullivan, Trade Minister Gina Raimondo and India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met with more than 40 corporate executives, university presidents and others, including executives from Lockheed Martin, Tata, Adani Defense and Aerospace and Micron Technology.
“It has the potential to take US-India relations to the next level,” said Tanvi Madan, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, of the initiative. The trick, she added, will be “moving from potential and promise to results.”
“Many of the decisions to collaborate or not will be made in the private sector, and companies will evaluate the business case as much, if not more, than the strategic case,” said Ms. Madan.
India has traditionally been known as a difficult partner for the United States in trade negotiations. In the talks the Biden administration is currently holding in Asia, known as the Indo-Pacific Economic Forum, India has withdrawn from the trade leg of the deal, although it has continued to negotiate on areas such as clean energy, supply chains and labor norms.
But analysts said the Indian government is far more motivated on national security issues and particularly keen to work with the United States to build cutting-edge technology industries.
“We both have a common goal here, which is a fear that if we don’t find areas where we can cooperate and work together, China will have lunch across all sectors,” said Richard M. Rossow, senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
