The US House of Representatives on Thursday approved a legislation recommending an India-specific waiver under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). The amendment is specific to S-400 missile system. A-400 is an issue with the U.S. administration because of some military reasons. It is because of that the U.S. is sanctioning those who are buying S-400, for example, Turkey.
The proposed legislation is an amendment to the annual National Defense Authorization Act, intending to deepen defence ties between both the democracies and help deter aggressors like China. Under the CAATSA, the US imposes sanctions on those countries that have “significant transactions with Iran, North Korea or Russia”.
The House approved the measure, offered by Democratic Representative Congressman Ro Khanna as an amendment to the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by 330 to 99 votes.
However, this amendment is several steps from becoming law. After the House passage of the NDAA, the Senate must approve its version. Then lawmakers must reach a compromise version of the legislation, which authorizes more than US$ 800 billion in defence spending, before voting again later this year.
This monumental amendment marks the most significant piece of legislation for the US and India relations out of Congress since the US and India nuclear deal in 2008, according to a statement released by Khanna, an Indian–American Congressman and a member of the House Armed Services Committee.
“The United States must stand with India in the face of escalating aggression from China. As Vice Chair of the India Caucus, I have been working to strengthen the partnership between our countries and ensure that India can defend itself along the Indian–Chinese border,” said Representative Khanna.
“This amendment is of the utmost importance, and I am proud to see it pass the House on a bipartisan basis,” Khanna further said. According to Khanna, the India–US partnership, rooted in shared democratic values, is critical in order to advance United States interests in the Indo–Pacific region. This partnership between the world’s oldest and largest democracies is critical and must continue to be strengthened in response to increasing threats in the Indo-Pacific regions, sending an unequivocal signal that sovereignty and international law must be respected.
This amendment is the latest effort by members of Congress to underscore a strong defence partnership between India and the United States, highlighting China’s threat to India’s security.
Furthermore, in Khanna’s amendment, there is a section titled “Border Threats from China and reliance on Russian weapons”, which proposes that the Congress recognize that India faces “immediate and serious regional border threats from China, with incessant military aggression by the Government of China along the India–China border”.
It emphasised that the United States should take additional steps to encourage India to accelerate its transition off Russian-built weapons and defence systems while strongly supporting India’s immediate defence needs.
While addressing the House of Representatives, Khanna lauded the US–India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (ICET), which was announced during the Tokyo summit between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an “essential step” to formulate closer ties between the two nations in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biotechnology, aerospace and semiconductor manufacturing.
While India needs to maintain its heavily Russian-built weapons systems, a waiver to sanctions under the CAATSA during this transition period is in the best interests of the United States and the United States–India defence partnership to deter aggressors in light of Russia and China’s close partnership.
India had inked the US$ 5.43 billion deal with Russia for five squadrons of S-400s in October 2018. Although as per a top official under President Joe Biden’s administration earlier, the United States has not made a final decision on sanctions on India for its acquisition of the S-400 missile system from Russia under the CAATSA.