The US and India are seeking closer ties
To counter China,
And the sky *isn’t* the limit.
Welcome to China Uncensored.
I’m Chris Chappell.
The US and India don’t see eye-to-eye on everything, especially when it comes to Russia,
but, nonetheless, the two nations are drawing closer to each other.
And there’s a simple reason why .
Because that’s what brings people together: not what you both love, but what you both
hate.
If a complete stranger mentions the Flash movie was a convoluted mess, they’re my
new best friend and we’re gonna chat about it for hours.
Last week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the White House.
The US and India commemorated recent moves to increase cooperation.
For example, earlier this year, they started the initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology
to support working together on developing technology.
Building on that, they also initiated the India-US Strategic Trade Dialogue,
And the Roadmap for US-India Defense Industrial Cooperation.
Which, between the three of them, could drown a small child in semi-meaningless bureaucratic
jargon.
All together, the agreements are supposed to “facilitate the development and trade
of technologies in critical domains such as semiconductors, space, telecom, quantum, AI,
defence, bio-tech and others”...
…and “fast-track technology cooperation and co-production in areas such as air combat
and land mobility systems, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, munitions, and the undersea
domain”
See what I mean about the bureaucratic jargon?
Still, that’s a lot of stuff to cooperate on.
Luckily, if at any point they disagree, they can just remember what brought them together
in the first place.
The Beatles were wrong.
Forget love, all you need is mutual hate.
The US benefits from this partnership because these deals help the US to stop relying on
China for so many things.
India, meanwhile, benefits from this by gaining access to US technology that it could only
dream of having otherwise.
It needs this kind of tech to catch up to China.
Mainly because China’s been stealing it from us for decades.
Already, we’re seeing some progress.
Micron Technology, one of the world’s largest chip firms, confirmed that it would invest
up to $825 million in a $2.75 billion dollar chip assembly and test facility in India.
As for the defense side of things, the US and India agreed to jointly manufacture the
General Electric jet engines needed to power modern jet fighters in India.
This is a huge game changer for Indian defense.
It’s kind of like how in some Zelda games you go from a wooden sword to a bronze sword
and then finally to the Master Sword.
Well, imagine if instead of going through all of that, you get to level up straight
to…
a freaking jet fighter.
Ganon doesn’t stand a chance.
The reason it’s such a big deal is that only four countries in the world have the
manufacturing technology and infrastructure needed to make high-end fighter jet engines:
the US, the UK, France, and Russia.
That’s right, not China!
And among those four countries, the US fighter jet engines are the best of the best, at least
according to the Heritage Foundation.
Given how few countries can make high-end fighter jet engines, the manufacturing technology
to do so is closely guarded and only shared, even partially, with the closest of allies,
which now includes India.
The engine they’re talking about building together has the same technology that powers
the US Navy’s Super Hornet.
High-end, but not bleeding edge.
.
Still, it drastically improves India’s capabilities in both the Indian Ocean and the Himalayas,
and it could pave the way for construction of future US aircraft.
Speaking of the Himalayas, the US also agreed to provide around 30 General Atomics MQ-9B
high altitude drones .
It’ll be a mix of SeaGuardians and SkyGuardians that will help India track Chinese troops
in the Himalayas.
In return, the US gained access to Indian shipyards, where it can repair navy ships.
This would help the US a ton in the event of war with China, since so many of the US’
ships are so old and worn down you’d be safer riding on something designed by
OceanGate.
The CCP does not like the agreements, which is why Chinese state-run media warned India
that it must reject US plans of containing China.
Obviously, India didn’t listen, and when China gets angry, you know something’s right.
Both the US and India signed a bunch more deals to improve cooperation.
But one of the more surprising deals was India’s agreement to join the Artemis Accords, an
American-led effort to go back to the moon and explore Mars.
I guess America doesn’t need to worry about India abusing human rights in space.
Just alien rights.
That’s important.
I’ll tell you why after this quick commercial break.
Welcome back.
The US and India signed a whole bunch of deals, some of them greatly boosting India’s air
force capabilities.
Some would say the sky’s the limit, but Modi says, not even.
India agreed to sign the Artemis Accords to join 26 other nations in a US-led effort to
explore the Moon.
According to a research associate at the Council for Strategic and Defense Research , it’s
“a very big deal as it is a general departure from the way India managed international space
treaties and negotiations.”
India usually prefers legally-binding treaties to govern both civilian and military space
activities.
But the Artemis Accords isn’t legally-binding, or even a treaty.
It’s more like a set of principles by NASA that countries can follow for exploring the
Moon.
It’s the US’s way of allowing resource extraction and safety zones while getting
around the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, Which states that “Outer space, including
the moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim
of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.”
Which has to upset the Chinese Communist Party.
“What do you mean we can’t claim Mars?
It’s literally a red planet!”
India definitely doesn’t want to be left behind in the space race with the US and China,
and this isn’t just for prestige.
Although it is a lot of prestige.
Getting a selfie on the moon is the ultimate clout on Instagram.
India’s national security depends on it, which is why India’s space priorities are
shifting accordingly.
These days, space superiority has a huge role to play in geopolitics.
China knows this, which is why it’s pouring a lot of money and resources into developing
its own space programs, such as the plan to land Chinese astronauts on the moon by 2030.
Which would be very useful for grabbing resources.
Yes, China wants to mine the moon.
Which would be historic, as it would be the first time in history that
Slaves are sent to space.
Unless you consider dogs humans’ slaves.
Aside from that, China’s also developing new technology through experiments with biotech,
High energy beams,
And even AI… in spaaaaace!
Has China never seen any of the Alien movies?
Or 2001: A Space Odyssey?
AI in space *never* has a happy ending.
China has already used a ground-based AI to control a small satellite for 24 hours without
any human order.
Which is kind of redundant since Communist aren’t human anyway.
But the AI satellite picked very specific spots to look at.
“One targeted area was Patna, an ancient city by the Ganges River in northeast India,
which is also home to the Bihar Regiment – the Indian Army unit that met China’s military
in a deadly encounter in the Galwan Valley in the disputed border region in 2020.”
To counter China, India is building up its private sector to encourage SpaceX-type ventures
And it’s planning to launch its own space station by 2030.
But India’s space capabilities are very limited compared to China's.
“As of March 2020, China owned 13.6% of all earth-orbiting satellites, compared to
2.3% for India”
That’s why it needs support from the US and other members of the Quad alliance.
So far, India’s space research organization, ISRO, has joint projects to examine Earth’s
ecosystem with the US using a satellite… and to send a moon rover with Japan.
Space collaboration between India and Australia is minimal, but with Australian investment
tapping into India’s space industry, something could come out of it.
These collaborations could come in handy if something goes down with China on land or
in space.
Australia and India are also gonna work together more?
What’d I tell ya?
All you need is mutual hate.
And this show would not exist without support from viewers like you.
Join what I call the China Uncensored 50 Cent Army by contributing to the show on Patreon.
You’ll get a bunch of cool perks, including the ability to ask me questions I’ll answer
on the show.
Today’s question comes from Frank Kurka “Accidentally?
Are you joking?”
Ah, that was in response to this recent episode about China repeatedly performing dangerous
manvers close to US forces.
(Corner Box thumb)
There is no question about it—these close shaves with US ships are no accident.
Those are orders given from very high up within the Chinese Communist Party.
But I said the risk is that China could accidentally spark a war if during these close encounters,
there’s a crash and someone dies.
I say accidentally because right now, the CCP is not ready for a military confrontation
with the US.
behind the scenes unrestricted warfare is already getting the CCP what it wants, but
China is not ready for an actual fight.
Which is why it’s rapidly building up its military.
China already has a bigger navy than the US.
So some day, a military conflict might really happen.
And that will be no accident.
Thanks for your question and your support Frank.
And thank you for watching.
Once again, I’m Chris Chappell.
See you next time.