India joins US initiative to confront China as ‘Allied in Defense of Freedom’

NEW DELHI: India on Friday officially joined the PAX Celica Initiative – the leading US initiative on artificial intelligence and supply chain security that is widely seen as an antidote to China’s influence over critical technologies.

Welcoming India, US Ambassador Sergio Gore said the alliance, which includes some of Washington’s closest allies and trusted partners as members, is about “whether free societies will dominate the commanding heights of the global economy” and will define the economic and technological order of the 21st century.Foreign Minister S. Krishnan, US Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth Jacob Hellberg, and Gore, as well as the Pax Seleka, issued a supplementary joint statement that said this partnership signals a new era in which the world’s oldest and largest democracies stand united not only in defense of freedom, but also in the purposeful pursuit of prosperity and harmony for their people.India’s talent is deep enough to rival its rival: GaurThe statement stated that the two sides aspire together to build an artificial intelligence future that serves their citizens, strengthens their economies and societies, and reflects their shared values ​​of freedom, openness, and the rule of law.Gore’s comments were more telling as he said that the Pax Seleka was an alliance of capabilities that replaced forced dependencies with a positive alliance of reliable industrial bases. “India’s accession to Pax Seleka is not only symbolic, it is strategic and necessary.

“India is a country with deep talent, deep enough to compete with competitors,” Gore, who invited India to join the initiative, which now has 11 members, said on his first day in office last month.For India, the Pax Celica is another important step forward towards normalizing the relationship with the US after the two sides finalized the framework of an interim trade agreement this month.According to Gore, India brings strength to the alliance as its engineering depth and critical mineral processing capacity have provided vital capabilities to the partnership.

“Peace does not come from hoping that adversaries will play fair. We all know they will not. Peace comes through strength. India understands that. India understands strong borders. India understands this part of the world. That strength, that sovereignty, is exactly what Pax Seleka is amplifying,” the US ambassador said, adding that discussions with India are about building supply chains that will not be held hostage.The Pax Celica Declaration seeks efforts to reduce excessive dependencies and establish new connections with trusted partners and suppliers committed to fair market practices, while recognizing the importance of addressing non-market practices that undermine innovation and fair competition.Welcoming India to “co-create” the future, Gaur also said the initiative is about whether innovation happens in Bengaluru and Silicon Valley or in surveillance states that use technology to monitor and control their people. “We choose freedom. We choose partnership. We choose power. And today, with India joining Pax Celica, we choose victory,” Gore said.The joint statement prioritized economic security, pro-innovation regulation, a stronger physical AI stack and free enterprise, saying the two sides share a belief that the great danger facing the free world is not the advancement of AI, but the failure to lead it.Minister Ashwini Vaishnau stressed that cooperation under the PAX Celica framework would further deepen engagement in critical technologies and supply chain resilience within the framework of the comprehensive global strategic partnership between India and the United States.“Technology cooperation remains one of the key pillars of the comprehensive global strategic partnership between India and the United States. India’s joining the Pax Silica Initiative represents an important step forward in deepening bilateral cooperation in critical and emerging technologies and reinforces the shared commitment of both countries to resilient, reliable, and future-ready supply chains,” the MEA said.