Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has ruled out the possibility of becoming a member of the US-led NATO Plus.
NATO Plus is a US-led, defense-oriented group consisting of all NATO members and five other nations: Australia, Japan, Israel, New Zealand, and South Korea.
Addressing a presser to highlight the foreign policy achievements of the federal government on Thursday, Jaishankar said that one of the challenges of a changing world was to make people accept and adapt to these changes. And even today, he said, the "North American template" was still in the heads of many Americans.
The Atlantic Treaty seems like the only prism through which the US looks at the world, Jaishankar said, adding that "in reality, NATO template doesn't apply to India".
US Wants India to Become Part of NATO Plus - Why?
Earlier this week, the US congressional Select Committee on the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) recommended that "the United States should strengthen the NATO Plus arrangement to include India".
The US sees China as the primary challenger to its so-called global hegemony.
The release came just weeks before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to embark on a state visit to the US. As preparations for the visit are underway, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited New Delhi on Monday with the ambitious aim of boosting the major defense partnership and advance cooperation in critical domains between India and the US.
US defense exports to India have risen to over $18 billion in the last decade, and in 2016 the US also designated India as a "Major Defense Partner".