China to have problem with US selling arms to India, tops diplomatic agenda

Michael Pillsbury, senior adviser to the US President Donald Trump, said that the US arms sales to India and China-India border disputes are among the top six "sensitivities" senior Chinese officials have listed for the new Trump administration.

He also said that under Trump, the US-China relationship will be of critical interest to India, affecting its own grand strategy.

Pillsburry is a China expert and has been recently appointed as an adviser to Trump. He said that Chinese have never come out in open and objected India purchasing weapons from US or anyone but might do it now.

"Six areas of outsized importance to President Xi Jinping and the ruling elite have been revealed. The Chinese have never openly objected to India's weapons purchases from the US or anyone. The fact that they would do so now is significant. This and the South Korean missile shield are on their list," he told TOI.

Also, China has asked that Trump not meet Dalai Lama. According to Pillsburry, China is nervous about the THAAD (terminal high altitude area defence) missile interceptors and SPY radar systems that the US has agreed to position in South Korea.

He also said China would not like the US to add to these, which could neutralise China's ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) capability that targets the US mainland.

"Whether President Trump supports India's claim to Arunachal Pradesh and continues US arms sales to India already requested by PM Modi, now America's largest customer of weapons, is another Chinese worry about the coming year," Pillsbury said at the recent Raisina Dialogue.

However, China would ideally like Trump to agree with its denial of the UNCLOS verdict on its South China Sea claims, said Pillsburry.