Tillerson seeks stronger ties with India, chides China

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Wednesday for the US and India to expand strategic ties. He also pointedly criticized China, which he accused of challenging international norms needed for global stability.

Tillerson's remarks on relations between the world's two largest democracies, ahead of his first trip to South Asia as secretary of state, risked endearing Washington to one Asian power while alienating another.

Tillerson said the world needed the US and India to have a strong partnership. He said the two nations share goals of security, free navigation, free trade and fighting terrorism in the Indo-Pacific, and serve as "the eastern and western beacons" for an international rules-based order which is increasingly under strain.

Both India and China had benefited from that order, but Tillerson said India had done so while respecting rules and norms, while China had "at times" undermined them. To make his point, he alluded to China's island building and expansive territorial claims in seas where Beijing has long-running disputes with Southeast Asian neighbors.