Britain's decision to send its warships to the Indian Ocean Region could be a part of the AUKUS plan, a military pundit has told Sputnik India.
The comments of Major Manik M Jolly (Retd) came hours after Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held bilateral talks with his British counterpart Grant Shapps in London.
Rajnath Singh was on a three-day official tour of the UK, making him the first Indian Defence Minister to visit the island nation after 22 years.
"Had an excellent meeting with U.K. Defence Minister, Grant Shapps. We reviewed the full range of India-UK defence relations. We had fruitful discussions on a wide range of issues pertaining to defence cooperation, security and also on enhancing defence industrial cooperation," Singh wrote on X.
Against this backdrop, the former Indian Army officer reckoned that the meeting between Singh and Shapps was very evident proof of the UK's increasing focus on the Indo-Pacific.
UK Could Be Filling Space For the US
"Although it could also be very much possible that the UK is filling space for the US, both being part of NATO and sharing responsibility," Jolly noted.
"On the other hand, if this is a purely British effort, devoid of any American nudge, one can safely assume that the UK is preparing to play a bigger role in the Indo-Pacific in the future. This could be a result of the AUKUS' plan or the UK's individual aspirations, which although looks less probable," he added.
Meanwhile, another geopolitical analyst Niranjan Marjani of the Bhubaneswar-based Kalinga Institute of Indo-Pacific Studies (KIIPS), stressed that the UK has been increasing its engagements in the Indo-Pacific Region for a few years because Brexit caused significant losses to the British economy.
Besides, Marjani underlined that the Indo-Pacific was turning into a contested zone.
"I would not deny that there are no conflicts between world powers in the Indo-Pacific region. However, both the Western countries on one hand and Russia-China on the other, should not leave their differences to get out of hand," the international relations expert emphasized.