In light of growing ties between Moscow and Beijing, a top US lawmaker warned India against “compromised” Chinese parts in technology it may have bought from Russia.
Raja Krishnamoorthi, the top Democrat and ranking member of the newly formed House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the US and the Communist Party of China (CCP), said in an interview, “We don’t want to be in a situation where the Russians have somehow given technology that’s been compromised by the CCP to India or others that the CCP could use.”
“I think our governments are probably having and should be having a very detailed conversation about a wide range of technologies now that we think they are important to our collective security,” he said.
The broken parts could let the Chinese see into the Indian defence systems or into the American equipment that the Indians are using.
As defence cooperation between India and the US has grown and deepened, and as India has bought more military equipment from the US than ever before, Washington DC has been worried that sensitive technology in the military equipment it sells to India can be accessed by Russia through the equipment they send to India.
Americans say this is their biggest worry as they try to get India to cancel its order of the Russian S-400 air missile defence system but haven’t been able to do so yet. They also say that having Russian equipment made it harder for the Indian and US militaries to work together.
When asked about India’s relationship with Russia, the lawmaker, who was born in New Delhi and moved to the US when he was three, said, “I know that the Indians and the Russians have had ties in the past. I also understand how the relationship works from a practical point of view. I hope that over time, the US will prove to be a reliable source of security equipment. But we can also strengthen our ties so that India doesn’t have to depend on the Russians for as many important things.”
In fact, India has been diversifying its military purchases in recent years and has become much less dependent on Russia. The US and other countries are rushing in to fill the void, among other things by giving India the same access to sensitive technology as close allies.
In public, the U.S. has asked India to rethink its relationship with Russia because of how close the two countries are getting. “I do think that the CCP and the Russians have entered into a rather unholy relationship right now with regard to Ukraine and other issues that I don’t think are in the best long-term interests of the world,” said Krishnamoorthi, who had previously served on the House Permanent Select Committee that oversees the work of America’s 17 intelligence agencies.
In recent years, relations between Russia and China have grown very close, especially after 2022, when Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping said that their relationship has “no limits.” The two countries said in a joint statement after their meeting in February 2022, “The new inter-state relations between Russia and China are superior to political and military alliances of the Cold War era. There are no limits to the friendship between the two countries, and they can work together on anything.”
Congressman Krishnamoorthi is a rising star in the Democratic party and he breaks new ground as the lead Democrat on the China committee – over the claims of other Democrats.
“I’m honoured to be the first Indian American to ever lead either Democrats or Republicans on any select committee or standing committee in Congress,” he said, adding, “I’m honoured to have the opportunity to to work on this particular assignment.
Leader (Hakeem) Jeffries, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives and Minority Leader, should be praised for bringing new voices to leadership and the discussion of these important issues in this Congress. He is the first Indian American to ever lead a standing or a select committee for both Democrats and Republicans.”
This group, which has been called both the China Committee and the tough-on-China Committee, was set up by the new Republican-led House with the help of a large number of Democratic votes. The chairman is the Republican Mike Gallagher, who is a “China hawk.”
Krishnamoorthi said the committee’s charter is to “to investigate and report upon the economic, technological and national security challenges posed by the Chinese Communist Party, also known as the CCP, to the United States.”
