China, COVID-19 top agenda of India-US 2+2 talks
Phan Tung, VOV‘s reporter in India -
(VOVWORLD) - Top US diplomat and defense officer arrived in New Delhi, India, on Monday for the third edition of the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue scheduled to take place over the next two days.
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 US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defence Mark Esper and their Indian counterparts Jashankar and Rajnath Singh at the second US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue in Washington DC in December 2019. (Photo: ANI)
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The meeting comes at a critical juncture, with India and the US facing the same urgent challenges, which include tensions with China over Beijing’s military assertiveness in the South China Sea (called the East Sea in Vietnam) and border rows with India.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defence Mark Esper hope to expand cooperation to boost stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.
Ahead of the India trip, the US Defense Department outlined four topics to be discussed at the dialogue – regional security cooperation, defense information sharing, coordination between the two armies, and defense trade.
Cooperation in developing a vaccine against COVID-19 will be another important topic of the dialogue.
Phan Tung, VOV‘s reporter in India