New Pact puts U.S - India Military Ties Under Spotlight, By: Yang Qingchuan, www.chinaview.cn, 2009-07-21

By Xinhua Writer Yang Qingchuan

WASHINGTON, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Monday's signing of a new U.S.-India defense pact in New Deli is hailed here by some as one concrete achievement of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's trip to India.


U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) smiles next to India's Foreign Minister Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna during the signing of agreements ceremony in New Delhi July 20, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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The Christian Science Monitor called it a "tangible accomplishment."

Meanwhile, the deal once again put the growing Washington-New Deli defense relationship under spotlight, observers said.

The agreement, inked by Clinton and Indian Minister of External Affairs S. M. Krishna, will set terms for U.S. officials to monitor India's weapons usage and allow the US to sell sophisticated military technology to India, including fighter jets.

Under the terms of the deal, the U.S. would be allowed to conduct "end-use monitoring," meaning it would conduct regular assessments of India's military policies to verify that weapons systems are being used for their intended purposes.

Such an agreement is required by U.S. law before American companies can legally sell weapons systems to any foreign nation.

In other words, it will turn on the greenlight for U.S. defense giants such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing, to sell advanced and sophisticated weaponry to India.

"The agreement will boost India's ability to defend itself through the acquisition of U.S. defense equipment while promoting American high tech exports," the U.S. State Department said of the deal in a statement...."